Whammy Chaos
by ryuzaki-will-live-on
Summary: This story is set at Whammy Orphanage, back when L, Mello, Matt, and Near are all kids/teenagers. A seemingly mild theft ring leads way to a devistating and frightening evil plot. Can L solve the case before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

Watari was sitting at his desk rustling through some paperwork when there was a timid knock at the door. "Come in," he murmured into the quiet room. Slowly, the door opened to give way to a teary-eyed four year old Near. His real name was Nate Rivers, but no one called him that here. Near was only one of the orphans at the Whammy Orphanage. When he was merely two years old, he had been brought to Watari by an agent that had rescued him and one other child from an otherwise massacred town. Even at such a young age, Near was exceedingly intelligent. That is why he was brought to the Whammy Orphanage; it is a place for intellectual children who might someday become great detectives and masterminds.

"What is it Near, is something wrong?" Watari asked with expressed concern.

The voice that escaped the young child's mouth was beyond faint, trembling with each sob and sniffle that came forth. "Mello took my toy again. It's the Legos this time," he managed to choke out.

Watari looked down at Near with tender eyes. He had been a father-figure to each of the children at Whammy Orphanage ever since he established it twenty years ago. Watari had used the money he had earned from his new-age inventions to fund the construction of the orphanage. Near was one of the newest kids to come to call this place home; him and Mello were the two sole survivors from their village before they were brought here.

Watari widened his mouth into a smile full of white teeth. "Why did Mr. Mihael Keehl take your Legos?" he asked with the smile still playing at his lips. He knew as well as anybody at the orphanage that Mello always picked on Near, but there was always one way to cheer him back up.

"Well, Mello and Matt were talking about Matt's video game, and then they just came over and told me that they were taking my Legos, and for me to get lost," Near breathed out between sniffles.

"Ah! And why am I not surprised Mr. Mail Jeevas was involved too?" Watari exclaimed. From years of experience, Watari knew how to handle this type of situation, seeing as they were quite common. "Near, do you know where L is at the moment?" Watari asked. The tiny boy nodded his head only a fraction of a degree. "Would you mind running and getting him for me really quickly," he continued.

With that, Near wiped his tears, and took off down the hall, in search of L. When Near had exited the room, Watari closed his eyes and shook his head. He had often wondered why Mello, who was only two years older than Near, and Matt, who was only a year older than the child always picked on him. As far as he could tell, Near and Mello had been close friends at their village. When they arrived at his orphanage, they were holding onto each other and Mello was even comforting Near, telling him that everything would be alright. Watari wondered what had happened. It seemed now, that the only thing that either three of the young boys had in common was their admiration for their fellow orphan L Lawliet. L had become an older brother to all three of the boys. At the age of sixteen, he had become a symbol of kindness and justice to them.

After a few minutes of the continued silence, there was another knock on the door. Watari called for them to come in, and as he opened his eyes, he smiled at the sight of L entering with the tearless Near slung onto his back for a piggy-back ride. His smile widened as Near let out a soft giggle as L set him down on the chair opposite of Watari's desk.

"I see you found him Near! You see? Already, you are becoming a great detective, you managed to track down L and bring him here! L, you should watch your back, Near might just surpass you and your deduction abilities." Watari boasted with laughter echoing his words.

L took the moment to express one of his rare smiles, and rustled Near's white-as-snow hair. "Well, I'll just have to try to hide better next time, I wouldn't want to make anything too easy for Near here! Besides, if he is one of the possible contestants to take my place, then he deserves only the best training," he exclaimed. "So what's up Watari? Is their something wrong?" he asked, his face suddenly flipping the switch to serious mode.

Watari took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well, you see L, Mello and Matt have taken Near's Legos, and I --" …

"What? Is that true Near? Why didn't you tell me?" L interrupted. He turned to Near to see a single tear making its way down his cheek. The small child nodded and looked down suddenly, as if he were embarrassed that he was not capable enough to get his toys back by himself.

Watari cleared his throat, which drew L's attention back. The teenager gave him a sheepish smile, and pressed him to continue. "As I was saying, I was wondering if you might talk to Matt and Mello, and try to coax Near's toys out of them. I know you are very good at getting them to listen to you, and everyone knows I'm not very good at it myself…"

L let out a short laugh and replied, "Sure, no problem. Near and I will go talk to them before it's time for dinner. Thanks for the heads-up Watari." L bent over and let Near jump onto his back, and flashed Watari a quick smile. With Near on his back, L headed out into the courtyard to track down his two other younger brothers.

In the court yard, on one of the stone benches, the two little thieves sat. Mello was laying on the bench looking up at the sky and eating a chocolate bar. Matt, on the other hand, was sitting in the grass with his back to the bench, playing his Nintendo DS. As L approached, he heard Matt shouting chaotically at his game, "Come on! Bowser, you suck! Kill him already, it's only a chubby, big nosed guy in ugly red overalls!" L smiled at his intensity and set Near down on the grass. He then took his hand, and led him over to the two older children.

"Hey guys, what's up? Mario still kicking your butt, huh Matt? You know Mello, all that chocolate isn't good for you!" L teased them. At the sound of his voice, both boys looked up and laughed.

Mello was the first to respond to his provoking teasing. "Look who is talking? I do believe you were the person who got me hooked on this brand of chocolate! Besides, you never eat anything other than sugar-filled sweets, I'm just following in your footsteps," he chuckled. It was true that L was renowned for his sweet tooth, so he did nothing but smile and shake his head at Mello.

By this time, Matt had been beaten once again by Mario, and turned off his game console. He then jumped up to defend himself. "I'll beat Mario soon, that mushroom head has got nothing on me, or Bowser! We will definitely dominate him, then we'll move onto Luigi." With that, he ducked his head as Mello swung his arm around his friend's neck.

"So what brings you out here L, weren't you working on a virtual detective case, and why did you bring _him _with you?" Mello sneered.

L was not fazed by his mood change, and replied calmly, "I decided I needed a break, even a well-established detective needs to take a break every once and awhile. Besides, I heard someone stole Near's Legos… you two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Matt and Mello looked up at him and without saying a word, handed over the box of Legos to Near. They knew that L would make them give them back, no matter what reason they gave, regardless of the fact that they didn't have a legitimate reason for taking Near's Legos. Near smiled as he sat down on the grass and started constructing a replica of their orphanage.

"Don't you two have something to say to Near? He didn't do anything to deserve his Legos to be stolen from him," L reproached them.

Mello gritted his teeth and barked out, "Sorry for taking your Legos Near."

"That's better Mello!" L cried. For a second everything was quite, then L reached over and tapped Matt on the shoulder, "Tag! You're it," he shouted as he ran away laughing. Within a few seconds, the tension of the afternoon was dissolved into the pink-orange sunset. The courtyard became full with the sound of laughter as the four orphans became immersed in an intense game of tag until the dinner bell rang.


	2. Chapter 2

After dinner, L returned to his room. Although he was allowed to play and hang out with the other kids at the orphanage, he usually chose to spend his time alone. Over the years at the orphanage, he had developed the trait of being anti-social. Due to his lack of a social life, L spent the majority of his time in his room, either working on virtual or real crime cases. Even at the age of sixteen, he had solved twenty-three cases throughout the world that the police and other detectives had not been able to unravel. Currently, there wasn't a real case that Watari would let him tackle, so L spent his time practicing with the virtual analyzer computer program that he had been given by Watari last Christmas.

L jumped up onto the soft-cushioned chair that protected the back corner of his room. As he squatted down to a sitting position, he kept his legs pulled up to his chest. This was the only way L sat; he had once told Near that he sat this way because any other style of sitting disrupted his deduction skills, and he would not be able to think as well. As L reached over to turn on his laptop, he brought his other hand up to his mouth. When he was younger, he had developed this habit when he was thinking. His hand would form a loose fist, and he would rest his thumb nail on his lower lip, sometimes when his thoughts were more complicated, he would push up on his upper lip. When Matt had asked why he was sucking his thumb four years ago, L laughed and explained that this also helped him think; and because it worked, he was not going to stop just because it looked funny.

When his computer started up, L began to analyze the clues and evidence that was presented to him through the computer program. He had to remember to ask Watari if there was an advanced version of this program. Already, only after eight months of having it, he had come to be able to solve each case in a few hours. It was true that he was a genius, capable of solving anything, but still, L hoped for a little bit of a challenge; that was why he preferred real cases to the virtual ones. Real cases presented real data, hard evidence, although he had been able to solve all of the real-life cases Watari allowed him to investigate, they took longer, and provided more of a challenge. The real cases made the game fun.

After L had correctly solved the case he was working on, he put his lap top away. Almost immediately, he went for the sweets. L popped a lollipop into his mouth and twisted the stick between his fingers. It had been a full six hours since he had eaten a lollipop. As the sugar dripped and dissolved into his bloodstream, L became restless. He was contemplating going to track down some chocolate cake, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. He called for his visitor to come in.

Mello bounced into the room like a rubber bouncy ball. He bounded onto the couch across the room from where L currently sat. In his hand was a half eaten chocolate bar, and in his pocket sat three more, protected by their wrappers. When Mello had calmed himself enough to sit, L looked up.

"How many have you had so far? This is only the first of several sweet treats of the night for me," L smiled at the thought of chocolate cake with a gallon of frosting on top.

Mello smiled and snapped off a piece of the chocolate, and threw it into his mouth. "You taught me well, I think this chocolate addiction could very well be the best thing I've acquired from you L. This is, I think my fifth bar? Maybe it's my sixth, I don't remember. What were you doing anyway? Did you finish your case for the night already?" he asked.

"Yup, all done for the night. I was thinking of tracking down some cake and going to tell you guys all a bedtime story. However, seeing as you will probably be up most of the night on a sugar high, and Matt is probably still losing to Mario, I guess that only leaves Near. Still, even he is probably playing with his finger puppets. Mello, do you think it strange that no one at this orphanage sleeps before midnight? As it is, it is almost eleven o'clock, and I'm sure the only person asleep is Watari. Also, it is said that a child requires eight to ten hours asleep to function properly, and we are all geniuses, and we operate on only four to five," L reasoned.

"Ha! L, you are lucky to get fifteen minutes of sleep! However, it is somewhat ironic. Perhaps scientists really have no idea what on Earth they are talking about," Mello replied.

"Hmmm. It is all very interesting, perhaps I'll gather some data on the subject. Would you like to help me with my investigation once I gather the data?"

Mello's eyes lit up at the mention of working together with L. After all, one day, someone from the orphanage would become L's successor. As of now, he held second rank there. Near, of course, had first. Mello thought to himself how he always seemed to be one step behind Near, but this time, he would win. If Mello got to work with L even on a flimsy case such as this, surely he would gain some logic and knowledge of how he thought and worked. He didn't see L running around asking Near for help.

"Oh boy! Do you mean it L? I can help with the case?" he beamed.

L gave the boy a smile and then took another lick of his lollipop. A thoughtful calm smothered the room for nearly ten minutes before L spoke again. "Hmmm.. One day, I'll discover how many licks it really does take to get to the center of one of these things…" L drifted on. He sat silently for a few minutes. The only sound of the room was the sound of crunching chocolate, and the licking of the lollipop. At last, L looked up at Mello. "Mello, are the preparations coming along well for tomorrow?"

A frown instantly formed on Mello's face. Just when he thought the evening was going perfectly, L had to mention that little brat. "Yup," he answered slothfully, "Watari said he just had a few last things to get ready. Matt and I told everyone about it, just like you asked, but they said they weren't interested, so I guess it will only be Watari, Matt, Near, and us there."

L took another lick of the lollipop and answered, "That will be okay. It is probably better that only his true family is there. Any other people could seem to him like outsiders. Whereas you inherited my lovely sweet addict, I fear Near has adopted my anti-social trait. It must be horrible, to be so young, and feel completely alone in the world…" he trailed off. A blank look drowned his facial expression for a minute, then he looked up and smiled. "Well, at least he has us! We were all in his position, and we turned out fine."

Mello began peeling the wrapper of another chocolate bar. "Ha! Sure, we turned out perfectly," he oozed sarcastically.

L smiled and threw the lollipop wrapper at him. "Hey Mello, maybe you should head to bed. Tell Matt and Near that I said goodnight. Also, please don't tell Near anything about tomorrow, I don't want to ruin the surprise for him."

With this, Mello dragged himself off the couch, trailing chocolate crumbs all the way to the door. He said goodnight and left. When the door was shut, L jumped up. He still had a lot to prepare for tomorrow. He turned on the overhead lamp and crouched down to the floor. His toolbox was already sitting there waiting for him, all he had to do now was to finish building.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, L snuck around the little kids. He didn't want anyone to know what he was doing, or to discover what lay hidden in the bag he carried on his back. Luckily, most of the kids were still sleeping, exhausted from the previous days' training. He thought of how helpful it was that his clothes didn't draw attention to himself. L had always worn the same type of clothes. A long-sleeved white shirt draped off his shoulders, and was met at his waist by a pair of loose light blue jeans. His feet were never covered with socks, or shoes. L had grown a disliking to both of the clothing articles from childhood, and still had not changed his mind on the matter.

L snuck down the quiet, sleepy hallway to Watari's office. He knocked ever so faintly on the door, and looked around to make sure no one was watching before entering. Inside, Watari was rustling through a pile of white and blue wrapped presents, placing them in a bag. When L entered through the door, he looked up. He had been expecting him.

"Did you finish it?" he asked.

L slid the bag off his back and pulled on the drawstring at the top. "Yup, I finished it last night. I had to change a couple things, but now, it can move almost freely and talk. Thanks again for buying the parts for me Watari." Slowly, he pulled out a silver robot, equipped with a black helmet, speakers on the soles of his feet, and movable body ligaments.

"Don't mention it L. You drew up the blueprints yourself, so it was honestly no bother to purchase the parts you needed. Besides, he is going to be really happy when he sees it," Watari comforted.

"Did you need any help getting things prepared for later Watari?" L asked.

Watari shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it L, I'll finish up the last few details, but I think you should hold onto the robot and give it to him yourself. We're still planning on noon, right?"

"Yes," he replied. L began placing the robot back into his bag and said, "I can't believe he is going to be five this year. Is it ever hard, Watari, watching the orphans here grow older? They look up to you as their father, does it hurt as much as sending a child away when they leave here to start investigating?" L asked with big eyes.

Watari stopped messing with the presents and stood up. He placed a hand on L's shoulder and replied, "Yes, very much. It pains me very much to watch these children leave when they turn eighteen, but I think, perhaps, it will pain me the most to watch you leave. If it weren't for my own selfishness, and the children's happiness, you would already be out in the real world."

L placed his hand on Watari's arm and said comfortably, "Maybe you can come with me when I leave the orphanage and help me with my investigations? You are one of the only men I would trust the job to," he said with an open smile. With this, he said his goodbyes for the moment, and headed out to the courtyard. There was only one more hour until the big celebration.

When noon rolled around, Watari and L were hidden in the bushes with their bags laying beside them. They waited for Mello to lead Near out to the table. L was also on the look out for Matt, who was supposed to be here with the cake by now, but was, of course, late. From the east, Matt's figure approached. L let out a sigh of relief to see the sugary goodness of the cake arriving, until he looked to the North, and saw Mello leading Near toward them. L scowled for a second and made tiny hand motions to Matt to stay hidden until Near arrived, and then to come around so that he would come up behind him.

When Near finally made it to the table, he sat down on one of the stone benches. "Mello, why did you drag me out here? It's my birthday after all, can't I be alone and play with my toys? I was working on a blank puzzle."

Near brought a finger up to his head and started wrapping his slightly curly, messy white hair. He leaned on his elbow and sighed. With his back turned to them, Watari and L snuck out of the bushes. When L accidentally stepped on a branch, Near started to turn toward the sound.

Mello, who had always been good at improvising at the last moment, in order to stay out of trouble jumped up to intervene. "Come on Near, it's such a pretty day! You don't want to waste it by spending it indoors, do you?"

Near signed again and replied, "I guess not." With his attention once again preoccupied, L and Watari continued their escape from the bushes. Matt, who had circled around already, came to join them just as they were stepping out from them.

When they were standing behind Near, Watari and Matt waited for L's signal. L took a deep breath and said, "Near, why don't you want to spend your birthday with us? After we all worked so hard to keep it a surprise. Even if you don't want to celebrate and just want to play with your puzzle, at least take a piece of the cake, we had it ordered special."

Near spun around, and at the sight of his family, he smiled. Matt sat the cake down in front of him. It was a large cake, with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. In the center there was a giant N, outlined with more sprinkles. Above the N, there was a rainbow made of frosting Legos. It was by far one of the best cakes L had seen in his life, and he had seen, and eaten many cakes in his lifetime.

A smile the size of the Mackinac Bridge spread across Near's face as the people gathered began to sing happy birthday to him. After he had blown out the candles, he looked up at Watari who was setting a handful of presents next to him. "Can I open them now Watari, or should I wait?" he asked. Watari gave him the 'okay' nod, and pulled out his camera in order to capture the memory on film.

The first gift he opened was a remote control rubber duck, that he could play with in the bathtub. Second, there were two new sets of the outfit he always wore. Near always wore baby white pajama pants, a baggy plain white dress shirt, and a pair of white socks. Like L, he had grown accustom to the comfortable style of clothing of his choosing. In the next gift, there was a spy camera, in case evidence needed to be collected on someone, and it was too dangerous to watch first hand. Lastly, to accompany the camera, there was a microphone that could be used as a bug for someone. When Near had opened all of his gifts he smiled and thanked his family.

"Hey bud, don't think you're done just yet. I made something special for you," L announced, "now close your eyes for a second. Matt, make sure he doesn't peek!" L pulled out the robot and sat it in front of Near, and told him to open his eyes. When he did, and his eyes fell upon the miniature robot, he jumped up from his seat and ran over to L. He hugged his leg tightly, murmuring his thanks into L's pant leg.

L laughed and scooped Near up into his arms and spun him around. "Don't mention it Near, you deserve it. Now! How about we dig into that cake! You must know that it is very hard for me to sit here and not eat something as delicious looking as that masterpiece," he said with a laugh. With that, Watari cut the cake, since Near, Matt, nor Mello were old enough to play with knives.

After they had indulged themselves in the cake, Near ran off to play with his toys. He grabbed the robot and ran around the courtyard and pretended to have the robot fly. His cute giggles could be heard all throughout the courtyard, but no one paid too much attention, except L. The rest of the party guests had returned inside, to go about their everyday activities, but he had remained outside.

He sat poised on the ground, watching his little brother in his happiness. It was enough that he could help make him happy. To make people happy was a big part of life, and he was content that his brother, who had suffered the massacring of his own parents, and any other family that he might have had, could find joy in this place they called home.

When the air turned chilly, he called Near over, and led him back inside. L helped him get settled into bed, after a long day of playing. Near was extra careful about his newly acquired robot. He wanted to keep it with him while he slept, so he could remember what a great birthday his family had planned for him. When L had finished his bedtime story, he smiled as he exited the room, leaving his baby brother sleeping blissfully in his bed.

Next, L ventured next door to check up on Matt. As expected, he found him laying on his bed, playing his Nintendo DS. Since it was past curfew, Matt had to be quieter when yelling at his game, but he did not give up on his tactics. When L opened the door he heard the raspy, whispered yelling, "Mario, you are seriously starting to piss me off! Just die already so I can make it to level eighty-four!" When he had again been beaten by his nemesis Mario, he threw the game down and pouted.

L, who had been watching the whole scene from the wall, came over and picked up the game. "Let's see if I can help you out." It took L a few minutes to figure out the technique of the game, and a few more to analyze the characters' movements and actions, but then, he got it. On the next try, he beat level eighty-three. He smiled as he handed the game back over to Matt, who had been sitting behind L, watching over his shoulder as he defeated his arch foe.

"Woah! I've been trying to beat that level for three months! Thanks L!" he exclaimed. He wrapped his arms around L and gave him a hug before collapsing onto his bed. Matt reached over and set his game system on his nightstand. "Well, I suppose now that I don't have that level to keep me awake at night, I should get a good night's sleep. Thanks again L." With those words he rolled over and cuddled up with his blanket. L rose and headed toward the door. When he reached the light switch, he murmured a goodnight, and left him to his well earned sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

After a quick check on Mello, who was already sleeping when L arrived, he headed over to Watari's office. Inside, the two ate some of the remains of Near's birthday cake, while discussing the day's events. After a few hours, L returned to his room and decided that he had earned a few hours of sleep. He dragged a blanket and a pillow over to the couch and cuddled up with them. Almost immediately, he drifted into a dream full of gingerbread houses, lollipop queens, and chocolate cake taxies.

He was getting ready to pay a cupcake for a box of cookies when he slipped on some frosting and fell. When he fell, his whole body trembled with pain. The logic that this was a dream, and that he couldn't really feel pain in it was not standing true, because his whole side burned as if he been placed in the oven on a cookie tray. The sound of crying overwhelmed him, oh gosh! Now he had done it, he had thought about being in an oven, and now he was. His cries echoed in his mind.

L started to come around from his chaotic dream as he felt a sharp tug on his jeans. He sat up and grabbed his head to stop it from spinning. "Woah. No more sleeping, especially after having any sort of sugar."

The tugging on his leg seemed to become more urgent and persistent. "L, wake up, please wake up," a tiny voice cried. The sound of this voice was drowned in sorrow, the sadness oozing from his throat as he sobbed. When L's head stopped spinning, he put two and two together, and realized that it was Near who was sobbing at his feet.

L reached over and pulled him into his arms, rocking him, and wiping his tears. "Near, what's wrong?" he asked with anxiety hanging in the air.

"L, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I didn't… I didn't mean to," he sobbed.

The teenager held his younger brother in his arms, and tried to calm him. When his cries had subsided, he asked again what was wrong.

"The robot that you built me… Last night, it was with me when I was sleeping, and this morning, when I woke up…" he sniffled and started to cry again. After a minute, he continued, "I can't find him anywhere. I'm so sorry, I know you worked really hard on the robot for me. Please forgive me," he begged.

L continued to shush his brother and try to soothe him. He told him not to worry about the robot, that he would personally track it down for him. When L had managed to calm Near into a tranquil state, the door swung open violently.

"L!" Matt exclaimed, his face the same reddish shade as his shaggy hair. "Some dirtball stole my Nintendo DS. Remember how I sat it by my bed last night? Well, it's not there anymore. I looked all over my room but I can't find --"

Matt was interrupted by a scream loud enough to wake birds within a twenty mile radius. L recognized the voice that was creating this screeching-tires sound. He jumped up and handed Near to Matt. Without wasting a second, he bolted out of his room and down the hall. Just as he was getting ready to open the door, Mello flung open his door.

With his eyes pinched closed, and his hands clenched into fists, he took a deep breath and opened his mouth. "WHO THE FUCK STOLE MY CHOCOLATE!? WHOEVER IT WAS BETTER HAND IT OVER NOW OR THEY WILL BE HAVING A NICE MEETING WITH MY FISTS LATER. YOU BETTER GIVE MY BACK MY CHOCOLATE NOW!!" His face had become so red that his dark blonde hair looked light in comparison.


	5. Chapter 5

Doors began to open shyly with fear-struck faces hiding behind them. L, who after a moment of quick recovery, grabbed Mello's hand and led him back to his room. When he returned, Matt and Near were standing in the doorway, trying to see the chaos from their hiding spot. L led them back into his room, and shut the door. He set them all up on the couch, while he pushed his comfy chair over to face them.

L jumped up into his chair and sat down, his hand automatically coming up to his lips for his thinking position. He looked over the three young boys sitting in front of him. Near was still teary-eyed, while Matt and Mello had smoke coming from their ears. When he had analyzed their moods, he took a deep breath and began.

"You have all had something stolen from you, correct?" he asked. The three nodded their heads and looked up at him. They realized then that L was thinking about this, it was no coincidence that all three of them had something stolen from their possession. Although the apprehension was there, that L would retrieve their lost valuables after catching the dirty, rotten culprit behind the crimes, anger and sadness still flooded their faces.

L pushed up on his upper lip and continued to look at the boys. "Did anyone act suspicious at all yesterday, or throughout the week?" Each of the boys thought for a moment, then shook their heads no. "Hmm… okay, I know what I am going to do. Matt, would you please go over to that shelf and grab my fingerprint kit?"

Matt ran over to the shelf and brought the kit to L. L thanked him for retrieving it for him, and then rose to leave. When the younger boys rose to follow, L did not tell them to stay, but warned them not to touch anything in either of their rooms. The four orphans headed to Near's room first, since it was the closest.

After examining the room for a few moments, L opened the kit and prepared to dust for prints on the ledge of his bed, and the nightstand. After successfully gathering a set of prints, he turned to the boys sitting on the floor in awe, and motioned them to follow him to the next room. When they had reached Matt's room, L followed the same steps, gathering fingerprints from his nightstand and the edge of his bed.

Next, they continued their journey to Mello's room. When L had observed the room, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just as with the other rooms. He asked Mello, "Where did you keep the chocolate?" Mello pointed out that he had kept his beloved candy stashed in a drawer of his dresser, between pages in one of Near's old coloring books, and in a box of tissues, hidden under the tissues. L raised an eyebrow at the amount of effort that he had exerted to secure his secret stash, then set in to collect some prints. He started with the dresser drawer, then the tissue box, followed by the coloring book. L took prints from each of the hiding places and then set them inside the fingerprint kit's box.

Next, he took out an ink pad and three pieces of paper. L made each of the three boys make a handprint on one of the pieces of paper. After taking their prints, he sent them to wash their hands, and then to wait for him in his room. L gathered all of his research and brought it to Watari's office. He had already labeled Near, Matt, and Mello's handprints, but he needed to see who the other prints belonged to.

He presented the information he already had to Watari. "Watari, could you please compare these prints to the ones belonging to the student directory?"

"Of course L, I would be glad to." L sat down in the chair across from Watari's desk, as he waited for the print results. After a few minutes, Watari returned with a list of four names. L thanked him for his help and returned with all of his data to his room.

When he returned, he found Mello, Matt, and Near sitting on the couch talking in hushed tones. As L entered, all three jumped up from their sitting position and inquired after the case. L spread out the data on the table and jumped up in his chair to his thinking position.

There were four names, and three things missing. It was entirely possible that all four were guilty, but it was also possible that only one, two, or three of the people were responsible for the current theft spree. He had the list of names, however that list did not mean they were guilty. It only meant that these four suspects had been at the crime scene, but how long ago?

"Mello, would you please go ask Watari if he would install cameras and bugs in these four students' rooms. I would like to monitor their actions for a few days, to see if any of them are acting suspiciously. Also, I would like to find out if they are in anyway communicating to each other about anything," L spoke softly.

Mello nodded and raced toward Watari's office. As he was heading for the door, L turned to Near and Matt. "Matt could you please go and retrieve the twelve televisions I have sitting on a cart in the closet? Just roll the cart out here, it's on wheels. Near, when he is done with that, would you please help him hook up all the cables?" As the words left his mouth, the children jumped up into action, not questioning his requests. While the three children rushed around to get things ready, L pushed his upper lip up with his thumb. He would solve this case, and he would return his brothers' missing items to them.


	6. Chapter 6

For the next few days, L sat nonstop in the darkness of his room. He did not join the other students for meals, nor did he have them brought to him. L survived off the sweets that he always had on hand in his room. He sat completely still, eyes set straight forward at the television screens, except for the occasional movements to pop a piece of candy or some other tasty treat into his mouth or stir his coffee with a sucker. Surrounding him were piles of candy wrappers, half eaten cookies, empty tea cups, stripped sucker sticks, and plates of other baked goods. The mess did not distract, nor bother him. L's attention stayed fixed on the screens.

The three younger boys would usually come and join L after their classes and dinner were over. They would climb up onto the couch and watch the screens in silence too. Of course they had questions, they wanted to know what L was thinking, how the case was progressing, and if he had any suspects yet. However, they also realized that this was an actual case that they were in on. This excitement kept them quiet, keeping their tongues silent, so their brains could analyze the data as well. This experience would no doubt help them take up L's place after he was gone; they could not risk not paying close attention.

On the third night of the so far fruitless investigation, L was finally rewarded for his persistence. The three young boys were already asleep on the couch, and L was once again sitting in the silent dark room watching the television screens. When he heard a cell phone ring in the first room, his eyes got wider. L leaned forward and waited, listening for whatever was going to come next. This was the first suspicious movement in the three days of investigation. Not many people make phone calls at one in the morning; something was definitely going on.

In the first room, David got out of bed and bolted for his phone. "Hello?" he whispered. David stood listening to the voice on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then continued. "Yes, Adam and I were successfully able to steal the three objects. It wasn't really hard, there is no security inside. The only problem is getting into the school, but once someone is inside, it's easy enough to get around." Once again, there was a silence in his room, and when he spoke again, it was only one word. "Yes." David then closed his phone and shoved it in his jean pocket. He gave the room a swift once-over and then slipped out the door.

L pushed up on his lip. So David and Adam were behind the thefts? If so, then why were Dean and Michael in the rooms as well? Had they been accomplices? But David said that only he and Adam were able to steal the lost items, so where do the other two fit in? L was mulling over the newly acquired information, his eyes still fixed to the television screens, when a knock came from room four.

Room four was Dean's room. Dean rose from the chair he was studying in and walked to the door. "Who is it?" he asked quietly.

"It's me," the voice answered. That voice… L recognized it. Dean opened the door, and David walked in. The door was quickly shut and then locked.

David sat down and began, "Ryan called, he said everything is still on."

Dean strolled about his room, then after finally settling on the floor, he said, "Good. At this rate, we should have our shares in a week or two. Then we can finally get the hell out of this place."

"Yeah," replied David. After a moment, he continued, "Yeah, so now it's your part. Adam and I did our jobs, now you and Michael have to do yours. Ryan said the plan is still for next Saturday, so make sure you're prepared. Make sure Michael knows what he is supposed to be doing too, you know how he isn't always with the program." David gave a quick laugh, then admitted, "I must say, I'm glad I only had to steal those stupid toys and the chocolate. Your job is harder, since you're dealing with the actual security system."

A sheepish smile crept over Dean's face and he replied, "Yes, well, I'm not too worried. I have the ability to get past the system, although Michael better not fuck this up. If he does, Ryan will be so pissed! Plus, that will blow our chance at getting out. But I'm not too worried. This will all go fine, it will be according to plan; nothing can stop us now."

David laughed and rose to leave, "Yes, you're right. We'll talk after Saturday, good luck. I'm going to go update Adam, so he knows that our job is officially done." With that, David left the room.

Dean walked back to his bed and lay down. Quietly, he declared to the room, "Soon I'll be gone. The plan will go perfectly, and then, I'll be on my way out."

L frowned at the televisions. What was going on? It was obvious that these four boys were all somehow involved in the theft of the robot, DS, and chocolate. To narrow that down, it appears that David and Adam were the ones to actually do the stealing, but for some reason Dean and Michael had been in the rooms as well. Now, there is another person added to the mix too. Who was this Ryan? Why was he making phone calls to David at one in the morning? What plan were all five of them carrying out? What did it have to do with the toys and chocolate going missing? How were Dean and David planning on leaving the orphanage? These were all questions that needed to be answered.

The frown on L's face deepened as he watched David visit Adam's room and repeat what had been said in Deans room. Something was definitely not right, these guys were acting very suspicious. He had to confine them and interrogate them. Although Watari would probably not allow him to confine them for very long, even if he had evidence proving they were guilty. After all, they had only stolen a toy robot, some chocolate bars, and a Nintendo DS from other students. The worst punishment they could get here was a detention or time out or something. However, Watari would probably have no problem with a serious interrogation of them, since they are both guilty of one crime, and still acting suspicious of what seems to be another.

L picked up his coffee cup and stirred the sugar saturated liquid with a bubble-gum flavored sucker. He slowly took a sip and set it back on the saucer. He was going to solve this case. He was going to win the game. L was sure of this fact, he hated to lose, and therefore, he refused to do so.


	7. Chapter 7

Several hours later, at five in the morning, L snuck into Dean, David, Michael, and Adam's rooms. He handcuffed them and led them back to his room, where he handcuffed them to various chair arms and table legs that were scattered about his room. L sat down in his chair and had his morning coffee. He was feeling quite refreshed and relaxed, after discovering the important information that had been revealed last night. Getting further in a case always made L happy. The clues were a step forward, which meant he was one step closer to winning the game.

L called for Mello, Matt, and Near to come down to his room. When they walked in, they were ecstatic to see that there were people, most likely guilty people, being held there. One of these people had stolen their beloved belongings… and they would pay for it. The three younger boys were assigned the job of watching the other captive students while L took one back individually to interrogate them.

The first kid to be interrogated was Dean. L led him into the closet adjacent to door. The room was well lit by the ceiling light, which illuminated L's pale complexion. A spark of fear flashed in Dean's face. L was a legendary figure at the Whammy Orphanage. Everyone knew who he was, and respected him. Being this close to him, and having him stare at Dean like he had just killed L's best friend was frightening.

L analyzed the situation, and the way Dean was reacting. L could see the fear and uncertainty in his eyes, but there was something else there too. It was a mix between loyalty and desire… for something. L took a sip of his coffee, and began his questioning. "Dean, what are your relations to David, Adam, and Michael?"

Dean looked around, as if to find a possible escape, and after coming up empty handed, he swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "We're just friends, that's all," he replied.

L pushed up on his upper lip. He knew that Dean was lying, but what was he trying to cover up? "Do you know anyone by the name of Ryan?" he asked, with another sip of coffee.

Dean's eyes grew bigger than the size of the moon, and his mouth went dry. He licked his lips several times, and had to take several deep breaths before he could reply. Obviously L knew about Ryan, but how much did he know? Dean breathed, "Nope, never heard of him, why?"

"I suspect you of being associated with someone named Ryan. Also, I will tell you that I suspect you of being involved with the theft of some chocolate, a robot, and a Nintendo DS," L replied flatly and emotionless. He continued on, "That is why you are being confined here and questioned. You will not be released until I have the information I am looking for. Therefore, it is best that you cooperate, and save yourself the torment, because I can assure you, I WILL NOT share any of my cake."

Dean let out a snort, and replied with a sharp and bitter snap, "Well, I don't know anything about a Ryan, or a mini theft ring… so I guess you better work on your hospitality skills."

L frowned and rose from his chair. He opened the door and led Dean back into his room with the others. L took a moment to look around and assess how things were going out here. Near was building a jail out of his Legos, with four people sitting inside separate cells. Matt was glaring at Adam and David, while tossing a box of matches up in the air. Mello was sitting about one inch in front of Michael's face and practically foaming at the mouth. If looks could kill… Michael would have already had his funeral in the five minutes that L was in the closet.

L led Dean back to the chair he was handcuffed to originally, and relocked the other cuff. He then led David from the room and into the closet. After asking the same questions he had asked Dean, and not getting any further, he stopped for a moment. L cocked his head to the side, and stared at David openly. This sudden change in L's attitude sent David on high-alert.

After a few moments, L got up and started circling David's chair, his head staying close to David's head the entire time. David was past being freaked out. Why the hell was L so close to him? Suddenly, L started sniffing next to David's face. The young kid shouted, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"David, are you aware that you smell like chocolate?" L asked, completely serious.

The look that hung on David's face was completely dumbstruck. However, the startled, confused, and sanity-questioning expression did not deter L. "Mello," the dark haired detective called, "would you please come in here a moment?" Seconds later, the door creaked open.

"L, you called me?" the curious blonde asked. L nodded his head and motioned for his young apprentice to come forward.

"Mello, would you do me a favor please?" L asked. Mello looked slightly taken back, confused on what favor he could do for L in a tiny closet with a confined suspect. However, he trusted L knew what he was talking about, so he nodded his head. "Mello, would you please smell this young man?" L asked in a monotonous voice, ignorant to how strange his request sounded.

"S..sm.. smell him?" Mello stammered, completely confused.

L nodded. "Yes. You see, I have picked up a distinct aroma on his clothing, and I was wondering if you might be able to help place the origin of it," L reasoned.

Mello looked slightly conflicted, and more that slightly hesitant, however, he leaned in to fulfill L's request. He inched closer, David becoming more and more uncomfortable with his close proximity. Almost instantaneously after taking a quiet sniff, Mello's eyes flared. He stood up and drew back his arm. With a quick, unpredictable force, Mello crushed his fist into David's face. "YOU BASTARD!! YOU WERE THE WENCH WHO STOLE MY CHOCOLOATE… AND TO MAKE IT WORSE, YOU FUCKIN ATE IT!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" he shouted. David cowered in fear, a light bruise forming a dark ring around his right eye.

Mello was just taking another deep breath, to tear the living hell out of David via violent threats when L jumped up out of his chair. "Thank you Mello," he said softly, "you can return to the other room now." Mello's nostrils were still flaring, his breathing heavy, and fists clenched tight, but he turned on his heels and exiting the door, slamming it behind him.

L, returning to his seat after retrieving a lollipop, remained silent. The silence was broken with a very familiar voice screaming, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? I'M GOING TO SHOOT YOU, AND YOUR BLOODY ACCOMPLACES!!" L looked over at David who was still cowering in fear, shooting nervous glances toward the door to the main room.

"Just out of curiosity, how is it that you were about to lay your hands on some of Mello's chocolate brand. You know, Watari has it specially ordered for him. I didn't know you liked the same brand, or that Watari ordered some for you as well." L paused to take a lick at the colorful lollipop nestled between his fingertips. "And another thing, are you absolutely sure you don't know someone by the name Ryan?"

L could see the confliction in David's eyes. It was obvious he was trying to determine who he feared most, L and Mello, or this mysterious Ryan. After a few moments, David replied quietly, "There's nothing to tell."

L frowned, and silently led David back into the other room. "Mello, would you mind keeping David company. We wouldn't want our friends to feel unwelcome, would we?" A vein in Mello's head started pulsating. L could see the hostility flaring up in Mello, his rage overflowing from his body. He smiled to himself, he didn't like being violent, but these kids were really starting to irritate him. "Mello, please try not to shed any blood… I would hate for Watari to have to deal with a mess."

L walked over and unlocked the handcuff locking Michael to a chair and gestured for him to enter the closet. Before L turned to follow Michael, he glanced back at the other three captives. They were exchanging concerned expressions. L had remembered what they said about Michael on the phone, and during their late night visits. If he was going to get information out of these four suspects, it would be from him. "I'm sorry you two chose to be uncooperative," he lamented, looking at David and Dean.

After L turned and closed the closet door, Adam threw his head back and grumbled, "Ah shit!"


	8. Chapter 8

When L entered the closet, a look of confusion passed over his face. Michael was no where to be seen. L glanced around and after several seconds of searching, located a trembling Michael underneath a heap of white long-sleeved shirts. L cleared his throat. "Excuse me, why are you hiding under my clothes? The heap of white shirts gave a startled jump and Michael emerged from within them. He stood shaking, trembling with fear, cowering in the very extreme point of the corner furthest from L.

L was dumbfounded. The sight was beyond ridiculous, and puzzled him beyond belief. After several moments of silence, except for the tremors of Michael's breath, L was bored of it. "Please, sit down. There's no need to act so absurdly, you are just going to be questioned, now calm down."

Michael looked dubious. It was true that L was thought of as the symbol of justice at the orphanage. This meant that it was highly unlikely that he would try to physically harm him in the closet. However, what if L discovered their secret? Then what would L be capable of? Michael stood for several more moments before taking the seat that L had motioned him to, the slight quivers of his breath betraying his feigned confidence.

"Now, I'm sure you're already aware that I suspect you of --"

"L!" Michael interrupted him, nearly jumping out of his chair.

"Yes?" L replied, curious as to what the kid had to say, even if he was being quite rude in the process.

Michael took a deep breath to steady his nerves, and began again. "L… you're not going to hurt me, are you?" he asked, his voice following a steep decrescendo.

L looked at the young student quizzically. What a strange question to ask. Looking down at himself, L did not think he appeared physically intimidating. Yes, he was rather good at martial arts, but there was only a 3 percent chance that Michael would know that; so where did this question spring up from? L leaned forward in the chair that he was sitting in, his eyes growing big. "Why do you ask? Is there a reason I _should _hurt you Michael?" He pushed up on his upper lip, clearly intent on hearing the kid's answer the second it left his lips.

"Um… um… no, not really," he admitted, though he sounded more as if he was trying to convince himself, rather than L.

L cocked his head to the side and stared at Michael for a moment, trying to analyze what had happened in this room with Michael so far. He was obviously terrified of L, which there was a thirty-four percent chance that part of that fear was instilled in him via Mello. Heaven only knows how loudly he had been screaming, in both the main room and the closet. It was then indeed more probable to assume that Michael, unlike the others, was more afraid of L, rather than the furtive Ryan.

L could tell the thoughtful silence was getting to Michael's nerves. He broke the silence with a sip of his coffee, and then continued. "Okay, if there is no reason to hurt you, then let us please continue on with the interrogation. Do you know anyone with the name Ryan?" he asked, taking another sip of coffee.

Michael sat silent for a moment, the question hanging like a dead weight above him. Oh God, he was busted, L knew everything… He was going to spend the rest of his life in prison, or worse, suffer the death penalty. Michael swallowed hard, and stuttered, "N.. n…no."

"Are you sure," L inquired, "you are aware, I'm sure, that lying during an investigation is completely illegal." Okay, so he stretched the truth a little, but there was only a ninety-eight percent chance that Michael was even aware of this. If L wanted to get his information, he would have to pull out all the stops.

Michael's eyes lit up with a new fear. Suddenly, he burst out, "Yes, yes I know a Ryan.

"Hmm," L purred. "Who is he?" the detective asked, thumb pushing up on his lip again.

A look of defeat passed over Michael's expression before he opened his mouth, "I don't know. I've never met him."

"Then how do you know him?" L inquired, curious and hungry for details.

"We're working under him. He wanted something accomplished, him and some other older guys, so they hired us out because we needed the money and had the connections." Michael revealed, oblivious to the extent of the adrenaline rush in L's brain after his comment.

So Ryan and some other people were the real ones in charge. They just used Dean, David, Michael, and Adam to get to what they wanted; but what did they want? Michael mentioned needing money, just like Dean and David had mentioned. Was it all to get out of the orphanage? Why did they want to leave, and by what means were they going to leave? No one here had family or other outside connections, that was part of being an orphan, it is in the job description. Connections… what connections did the four students have that were useful to Ryan? Was it the fact that they were students here, knew schedules, so they could steal the robot, chocolate, and DS? But what would an older guy want with these miscellaneous items? They were ideally generic, nothing seemingly important about them.

"Wait!" L exclaimed, reaching for a doughnut to settle his nerves. "What connections?" he asked, skeptical, instantly switching his internal switch to cautious mode.

Michael looked at L as if he was asking the dumbest question in the world. L replied to his expression with a look of demand, which must have frightened Michael, because he instantly bent to his will. "The connections of knowing about the security system and everyone's schedules, of course."

So L had been correct, it had to do with knowing schedules, but surely not for the purpose of just stealing three miscellaneous children's obsessions. And the security system? Did Ryan need it to be broken for some reason? "Why did you guys have to possess this information in order to work under Ryan?" he asked, once again scavenging for every last drop of information he could get out of the child.

"L, you ask the silliest questions sometimes, do you know that?" Michael chided, then continued. "We needed the knowledge so we could get the job done, duh!"

"What is the job!?" L quizzed. He sat nearly at the edge of his chair, hanging off of every word that was flooding out of Michael's mouth. Of course, there was a twenty-one percent chance that some of these things were untrue; however, given the fear, intelligence, and general personality of the kid, they were most likely true. L would have to remember to ask Watari why in the world they had taken him in… Michael was not good at covering up anything, nor being discreet.

For the first time since Michael became more comfortable answering the interrogation questions, he froze up for a moment. There was an eerie silence in the air, thick and heavy, stress filled and strenuous. Finally, Michael opened his mouth again, "You promised you weren't going to hurt me, right?"

"What is the job that Ryan needed done? Tell me!" L growled. He was tired of these childish, beat-around-the-bush answers.

The stone cold glare that L gave Michael pushed him into his final confession. "Ryan wanted to kidnap Watari, and hold him for ransom. If he doesn't get the money in time, he plans on… getting rid of him," Michael declared.


	9. Chapter 9

L did not have time to think over what he had just heard, he needed to act, and he needed to act now, before it was too late. L jumped out of his chair and bolted for the door. The unexpected speed and rough manner of the opening door alerted the outside room to the fact that something was terribly wrong, L would never act in such a manner.

Mello was the first to respond. His head whipped toward L, "What's wrong?" he nearly shouted, nervous and excited to hear the news.

L did not pause, from the moment he swung open the door, he was running towards the other leading to the hallway. In the midst of his hurried retreat he shouted, not bothering to turn his head, "Watch them!" With those words, L left his three brothers, confused and panicking, to follow his orders.

L ran down the hallway. He had meandered these halls many times, walking slowly and at ease. However, now was not the time to be carefree, he had to hurry, Watari's life depended on it. It took less than forty seconds to speed down to Watari's office. He slammed open the door and looked around, his breathing heavy. Watari was not here.

"Damn!" L shouted, pounding his fist against the door. He had to hurry! L turned swiftly, and bolted out of the room. He raced up a flight of stairs and through two more corridors before he came to Watari's room. L pushed open the door, praying that the old man would be sitting in bed reading a book; that the worst that could happen would be that L would look completely crazy. However, there was only a thirty five percent chance that this scenario would be real.

Watari's door swung open, hitting the wall with a loud thud. L once again raced inside, and looked around, his eyes darting around like a shifty cat. There was no sight of the old man. "Damn it!" he howled.

Immediately, L took off again, back down the flight of stairs and past his own room. When he flew by, the three young detectives watched with wondering eyes as their brother was racing all over the orphanage like a madman. They gave each other a curious glance when they heard a soft evil chuckle coming from beside them. Adam was laughing, his head thrown back against the back of his chair. Mello demanded that he tell him what was so funny, and when he didn't reply, Mello punched him, his irritation growing irrepressible.

After several moments of catching his breath, Adam smiled an unruly, despicable smile and muttered, "He's not going to find him…" With those words, he started back up with his maniacal laugher.

L heard laugher from behind him, from his room, but there was no time to stop. He had to keep looking, before time ran out and it was too late. L rushed through a corridor into the dining room. There were many students, but no sign of Watari. He raced into the actual kitchen, to come up empty handed as well. This was not looking good; Watari was no where to be found.

L scowled but turned on his feet and hurried outside into the courtyard. It was starting to rain, but L didn't have time to think about it, he had to find Watari! He searched outside quickly, once again finding nothing as to where his dear old friend was.

Distraught, depressed, and relatively pissed off, L headed back inside. His pace was slower now, not from being tired after exerting so much energy; but from disappointment, both with the situation and himself, and deep concentrated thought.

L's thoughts were scattered and uncollected, trying to piece everything together. Watari was missing, that was evident. Ryan had taken Watari, or had his henchman do it for him. Where had they taken Watari? How much danger was he in? How much money was Ryan asking for his return, his _safe_ return? Obviously the money would be paid, it wasn't like Watari didn't have billions just sitting around. But how long did they have to pay Ryan the money, and how would we get it to him? What dangers would lie with getting the money to him? L had never dealt with a ransom before, so he did not have first hand knowledge of this kind of situation. However, this disadvantage was not going to stop him, L would solve this case. He _had _to solve this this case.


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay! Chapter 10 in done! phew. ^_^ I'd like to thank everyone for their wonderful comments/reviews. You guys inspire me to keep on writing, so thank you! Also, because I forgot to state this with the other chapters.... I obviously do not own Death Note, nor the characters, except Michael, Dean, David, Adam, and Ryan. ^_^ Without further adu, I will stop rambling so you can read chapter 10. **enjoy**. =)**

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L shuffled back to his room, passing people confused by the commotion he had caused. It was widely known that L rarely exerted any kind of energy, except of course, brain energy. His running around the entire orphanage had clearly made some of the students curious as to what had brought about his sudden change in character. L said nothing, he would worry about it tomorrow, right now, he had other matters to attend to.

When L finally reached his room, he shut the door behind him, locking out all of the gawking, inquiring, and nosy eyes. Mello, Matt, and Near looked up simultaneously. L had been gone for twenty-three minutes and forty-two seconds. The three younger detectives had become slightly worried. After all, his exit had been more than abnormal, and the way he ran past the room the second time had added to the strangeness of the situation. The three young boys said nothing, simply watching their hero, trying to analyze what had happened.

L glanced around the room with weary, lifeless eyes. When they fell on Michael's head, who had been re-handcuffed to a chair in the main room, his nostrils flared. L stomped over to him and glared at him, causing the young student to squirm under the detective's gaze. L didn't even know what to say to that boy, he was so angry with him! He considered throwing strawberries at him, may their delectable fruitiness impale him with pain! Then he thought, no… the strawberries did not deserve such a terrible fate, he could never harm them in their preciousness.

Finally L turned to Michael's accomplices, who had been casting nervous shadowed glances at each other. When no one said anything, L decided it was time he got to work. "Where is Watari?" he demanded, his voice cold and cruel.

Near flinched at his curdling tone, he had never heard L talk with such a harshness in his voice; the situation must be worse than he imagined. What does he mean 'Where's Watari?' he should be in his office. The same thoughts were running through Mello and Matt's minds as well, though all three sat silent, waiting for what L would do next.

When Dean, David, nor Adam answered, L turned to Michael. His dark glare piercing a hole directly into Michael's eye sockets. As Michael was starting to open his trembling mouth to answer, a different voice rang out in the room. "Michael, don't you dare tell him anything," Adam spat, "Ryan is going to be so pissed at you, aren't you afraid of what he's going to do to you after he finds out you squealed?"

L snapped his head towards Adam. He had had enough of this brat's back-talk. L grabbed the arm of the chair he was sitting in and started dragging it towards the closet, ignoring Adam's protests. He shoved the chair into the closet and called for Mello. "Mello, go watch him, if he starts being a smart ass, do what ever you like to him, just shut him up. If he starts cooperating, come get me," with those words he dismissed his blonde apprentice.

Mello headed for the closet then doubled back and grabbed a small object from underneath the couch cushion. It was a small black gun. L gave him a questioning look when he held it up, but remained silent. "Just in case I ever needed it," the young blonde shrugged nonchalantly. Mello strolled over to the closet, entered, and closed the door behind him.

L turned back to Dean, David, and Michael. "If any one else has any other smart remarks that they would like to add, they can join those two in the closet," he declared emotionless. L turned back to face Michael, to continue his questioning. He did not feel the need, nor the desire to try to calm the boy in front of him. Ignoring the wide terrified eyes and trembling fingers, L pressed again, "Where is Watari?"

It took several moments for Michael to steady his nerves enough to reply, but he finally opened his dry lips and whispered, "I don't know. We weren't involved on that level, we just dealt with the minor thefts here. Well… and the security system."

L frowned, of course Ryan wouldn't share his full plans with someone like _him_, there was no way he could keep any kind of secret. He pressed on, "Why did you steal the chocolate, DS, and robot? They are not important to the kidnapping of Watari, so why go through the trouble?"

Michael had calmed himself down quite a bit by this time, and although he was still trembling a little bit, he had regained some of his bravado. "Of course they were important, we needed to see how hard it would be sneaking around the place and into rooms and stuff. Which of course, wasn't hard at all! The only -" He was cut off with a groan from Dean, who was silenced with a sharp glance from L. Michael continued, unaffected by the moment, "The only difficult part was getting past the actual security system, which really wasn't that difficult because Dean figured out a way to shut it down undetected for about twenty minutes max."

L scowled. He thought back over what he had learned over the past several days. Yes, it made sense, David and Adam had been the actual thefts, scouting out the difficulty of sneaking around the place at night. Dean and Michael, however, simply covered the outside security system. That was plausible. But wait, L remembered, when David visited Dean's room to inform him of Ryan's call, they mentioned something going down on Saturday. It was Thursday, so they couldn't have been talking about the kidnapping of Watari, but what was it?

"What is supposed to happen on Saturday?" he asked, trying to figure out the puzzle laid out before him.

"The kidnapping of Watari, of course," Michael chimed. L arched his eyebrows. After several moments Michael finally caught on, "Oh…" he mumbled, "wait a minute! Something isn't right here…"

From behind him, L heard a sigh. He turned around to see Dean opening his mouth to speak. "The kidnapping was always planned for Wednesday night. However, when we figured out there were cameras and taps in our rooms, we alerted Ryan, who told us to talk as if the kidnapping was going to take place on Saturday in order to deceive you. Everything -"

"Wait a minute! No one ever told me that it was planned for Wednesday! You guys said Saturday…" Michael accused.

"Gee! I wonder why no one told you!?" David scoffed.

Michael's eyes were full of hurt and anguish, "I don't get it," he sighed innocently.

The three boys continued their bickering but L tuned them out. He could not believe that he had been fooled by that trick, he should have known, or at least hypothesized that this could have happened. Watari was now paying the price for his ignorance.

L turned to David, who he presumed was probably in charge of the group of Ryan's school minions, seeing as he was the one who received the phone call several days ago. "Do you know where Watari is being held captive?" he inquired, the slightest bit of worry leaking into his voice.

David contemplated his answer for a moment. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders and gave a tainted smile. "Yeah, but it'll cost you."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer : I don't own Death Note.**

L's lips twitched down into a thoughtful frown. Suddenly, an outburst from Matt distracted him. "What the hell man!? Just tell us where the hell Watari is, we're -"

L raised his hand to silence the young gamer. He turned back to David, "How much?" he asked, his voice thick and heavy.

David smiled another one of his murderous smiles and pondered the question for a moment. He looked up towards the ceiling, as if he would find the answer he was looking for up there, "Hmmm… let me see here," he mused.

Matt's face was slowly turning an angry shade of red, to match his hair. He was tired of these punks' attitudes. The young red head slammed his fists against the coffee table beneath him and stood up. "Seriously, just answer the fucking question! How much money do you want in return for Watari's location!?" he shouted.

David was scowling at Matt, annoyed with his temper and yelling. He was about to open his mouth to reply with a smart-ass remark, however, he was interrupted by a different noise.

A gun shot went off in the closet, the echo ringing throughout the room, and surely most of the orphanage. Near jumped, startled by unexpected sound, but made no advances to see if his competitor was okay.

Matt, however, gasped, "Mello!" before running over to the closet door and lurching it open. Matt shot nervous glances around the room, calming his own nerves before laying eyes on Mello, unharmed. He ran over to his blonde friend and gave him a hug, all the while expressing his happiness that he was okay.

Mello shoved Matt off of him, "Dude! Get off of me! I'm fine, now let go of me!" he grumbled, trying to remove Matt's death grip from around him. "I think he's ready to cooperate, the blonde said with a smile. Matt glanced over to see Adam, bug eyed and breathing heavy, completely frozen, a small pocket knife laying on the ground next to him.

Outside in the other room, L was experiencing some difficulty with keeping order. After the gunshot had gone off, his door was busted down and in plowed over thirty kids who had been eavesdropping from outside the door. The kids were filled with questions, "Where is Watari?" "Why are these guys tied up?" "Is someone dead! That was a gunshot, right?" "How did a gun make it past security?" All of these questions were being thrown at him as if he were batting in a fast-pitch baseball game. All of the noise and disruptiveness was starting to give him a headache and make him a little dizzy.

Where was Watari when you needed him? Well, L obviously didn't know yet, so who was in charge now? L thought a moment, concentrating on blocking out the noise surrounding him. He was certainly the oldest here, and he supposed that everyone was aware of the rank that Watari had placed him; so under the circumstances, he concluded, he was in charge. However, would all of these kids listen to him and follow his wishes to remain calm? Well, he would just have to try.

L cleared his throat, trying to get everyone's attention. However, there was so much noise in the little room, he could not be heard. He climbed up onto his coffee table, making sure to move plates of cake, cookies, and other sweets out of the way. L took in a deep breath and shouted, "HEY! WILL EVERYONE _PLEASE_ BE QUIET!?" The room instantly fell silent. L made an internal face. He hated raising his voice, it was not a quality he found attractive at all. Yet, it seemed that he had been doing a lot of that lately, especially in the last twenty-four hours.

L grimaced as he faced the crowd of his fellow students. "Everyone, you need to remain calm. There is a very important, and possibly dangerous situation going on right now, Watari has been taken hostage," he paused a moment and let the rustle of whispered comments dim down. "However, I am going to solve the case and bring him back safe, but I need all of your cooperation. Are you up for the challenge?" he asked, hoping that no one would object, he didn't have time to argue with little children.

There was a majority cheer in the crowd, promising their cooperation, which pushed L to continue. "Okay, now, I am establishing some temporary rules that _will_ be enforced until Watari is returned safely, and the perpetrators are no longer a threat to the students here. First, under no circumstances is anyone permitted to leave the building. There will be guards placed at all entrances, and if you try to exit via other methods, I will not hesitate to tie you up where I can keep an eye on you. Second, no one is allowed to travel _anywhere _in the school alone. If you feel that this is a stupid rule and do not wish to follow it, believe me, you will find yourself handcuffed to someone until this threat is passed. Third, I wish for all of you to remain calm. Having a bunch of kids running around panicking is not going to help the case, it will be a distraction and a determent. These rules may sound absurd, but they are for your safety, as well as Watari's. They _will_ be enforced at all costs."

Around him, murmurs were spreading quickly through the crowd. However, L cleared his throat for a final message to send them off with. "Okay, dinner will be prepared shortly, head down to the dining room, and after dinner, will you all please return to your rooms." It was not a question, but a command, and everyone knew it. "After entering your room for the night, please refrain from leaving it until morning." L jumped off the coffee table motioned for everyone to leave. When someone mumbled something about who put L in charge, L grabbed him by the arm. "I did, and it is for your best interest, as well as everyone else's that I am in charge. It will only be temporary, until Watari returns. Please, make sure you pass along that message." The kid quickly joined the shuffle out of the room, eager to put space between himself and the frightening detective.

When everyone had exited L's room, he closed the door, happy to have revived the quietness of his room. He walked over to his chair and slumped down into it, resting his head on his knees. Near stared at him curiously. The young apprentice had seen L look very tired before, everyone knew he rarely slept… However, this was different. The look in L's eyes, on his face… it was something more than being tired, was it pain? Near felt horrible for his older brother, seeing him in this state. He grabbed something off the coffee table and walked over to L, tugging on his pant leg. When L raised his head from his knees, his gaze fell upon Near, holding up a plate of chocolate cake, bearing a timid smile. The sight lightened his mood just a little. L rustled Near's white hair and gave him a smile in return before accepting the cake.

"Near, Matt, Mello, you guys better head down and get some dinner, then go get some sleep… it's been a long day," he said, his voice slipping back to it's emotionless state.

Matt and Near headed out the door, but Mello hung back for a moment. "L, I have to tell you something, about Adam." L nodded, and motioned for Mello to follow him to the corner where they could talk privately. He once again prodded the young blonde to continue. "Well, I was sitting there watching him like you asked, and damn he must have some guts, because he pulled a pocket knife out, when I was looking at him, and tried to get his handcuff undone, or cut off, some stupid thing like that. That's when I shot at him, hitting the knife out of his hand. I mean, it didn't seem smart to leave a guilty party with a sharp weapon, you know? Anyway, he was being a real smart ass before, but I think after the gun incident, he might be more willing to talk," Mello announced with a daring smile.

"Okay. Thank you for the report Mello, now go ahead and eat dinner. I would suggest leaving the gun here though," he reprimanded with a grin. With that, Mello handed the gun over to L and left for the dining hall.

L closed his eyes and sighed, it had been a long day, and it was not over yet. Nor did he think the next couple days would be any less stressful. L pulled out his cell phone, holding it with only two fingers and dialed a number. He knew it by heart now, seeing as how many times he had worked with them. When the line connected L stated, quietly as always, "Yes, I'd like your assistance. We need guards at each entrance of the orphanage, no body is to leave." He paused for a moment, listening to the person on the other line, then replied, "Yes, chaos is breaking out, and I have a feeling things are going to get a lot worse before they get better." With that, he snapped his phone shut and dropped it effortlessly back into his pocket.

**Author's Note : Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed chapter 11! once again, i encourage you to review, even if you hate the story... practice makes perfect, right? for everyone who has reviewed so far, thank you! they mean the world to me. ^_^ **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer : I don't own Death Note**

L sighed, walking over to his chair. It had been a long day, interrogating the criminals sitting before him in his room. L was exhausted, although he had worked real cases before, he had never dealt with one involving people he cared about. However, that only made it more pertinent that the case was solved, and quickly, before anything bad happened to Watari.

Although L was exhausted, it was no time for sleep. After slumping down in his chair, he reached for a piece of cake, he did, after all, have to keep his energy supply up. L devoured his cake like a hungry lion, licking up each and every last crumb. Next, he moved on to the second course, cookies. For desert, L had a dough-cabob and some coffee. Having his sugar buzz reinstated, he felt he could now continue on with the case.

L looked over at the four guilty perpetrators sitting before him. They all stared at the full and empty plates of delectable sweets, their eyes glazed over with yearning. L cocked his head at the four boys and examined their appearance. They looked rather desperate, as if the sweets on the coffee table were the only thing they desired at the moment. Perhaps L could use that to his advantage? Would it work? There was only one way to find out.

"Excuse me," L cleared his throat, "as I have already told Dean, I will, under no circumstances, share my cake with you guys. However, I think I may be able find enough kindness in my heart to share some cookies or doughnuts, perhaps, if you decide to cooperate…" L paused to analyze the effect of his words on the boys. Their eyes were glazed over with greed, pleading for the morsels in front of them.

Finally, Adam spoke up. "What do you want to know?" he asked, dragging his gaze from the food to L.

"Where is Watari being held hostage?" he inquired, his emotionless voice making his words sound as cold as icicles.

Adam was the first to speak up, "We don't know. Ryan never mentioned it to us, for obvious reasons. We only worked under him so he could get in, we aren't involved with anything outside of the orphanage." He looked up at L, pleading him to believe him; he was tired, and hungry, and just wanted to be free of this entire mess. For the first time, Adam was starting to think that perhaps, he shouldn't have gotten involved in this, and just found a different way to find the money he longed for.

L examined the boy's face. It was open and earnest, obviously telling the truth. Perhaps, under the circumstances, he would actually get information out of the four criminals. L turned to David, "But you said that you knew where Watari is," he reprimanded, trying to uncover the whole truth.

David gave a nonchalant shrug, "I lied, I was just trying to get my money and get the hell out."

A deep scowl started on L's lips, and shifted it's way up to his eyes, furrowing in annoyance. Dean, Adam, and Michael glared at David. They had one common thought, now L would never believe any of them, and they'd never get fed, nor get to leave this room. David seemed unfazed for the most part, though L did detect that he now spent more time looking at the ground, and his shoulders slumped just the slightest.

"Well," L began, getting everyone's attention, "you _are_ going to find out where he is, give me your cell phone."

David didn't even try to fight back this time, his hunger was starting to get to him, his will to fight back was long gone from this morning. He fished out his cell phone and held it out to L, who picked it up with his thumb and pointer finger. The dark haired detective shuffled over to his desk and got to work installing the phone tap in his phone. When he was finished, he dropped it back into David's hand.

"Call him, you may explain the situation, ask for Watari's whereabouts, or just simply ramble, however, if you don't get the information I am looking for, keep him on the phone, I need time to track where he is at," L explained. "If you do this, you can all eat afterwards." That would be the catch, L knew that the four boys were desperately hungry, and if they were promised food, they would cooperate.

David nodded, acknowledging the detective before him, before dialing Ryan. When the other line picked up with a harsh "What do you want now?" snarled at him, David flinched. The icy tone oozing from the speaker of his phone was coated with cruelty and brutality, enough to strike fear in anyone.

After David had regained his calm and glanced over at L who urged him to continue, he took a deep breath. "Ryan, sir, I just wanted to alert you of what is going on. L has taken Dean, Adam, Michael, and I into holding, and have been questioned. Unfortunately, Michael spilled some information that wasn't supposed to get out. However, the rest of us were able to shut him up before he said anything important. L asked where the old man is being held, but we didn't tell him, obviously. He also wants to know how much is wanted in payment for his return." David took a steadying breath, and glanced over at L who nodded in encouragement.

"Hmm. Why am I not surprised that useless piece of shit betrayed me and my plans? His share is being reduced because of that. However, it does push me to look less harshly at the rest of you, for your ability to shut him up before anything important got out, therefore, the part of his share that is being taken away will be split between you and the other two. As for the old bag of bones, he is with me and the crew at the hideout. We're keeping a… good… eye on him." Ryan let out an evil chuckle which sent shivers down David's spine. He continued on, "You tell L that I want a quarter of a billion dollars if he wants the old man back," Ryan paused, "and half a billion dollars if he wants him back unharmed." Once again the wicked, cold, and cruel cackle sprang up from the other end of the phone "Tell him the day of the trade will be next Tuesday, five days from now."

"Yes sir," David responded, "is there anything else?"

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment before Ryan answered the young boy, "Yes… tell L that if he cares about the safety of the old bag of bones, he shouldn't bring anyone else to the meeting place, especially the police. I don't care if he brings the half a billion dollars, if anyone else is there, I won't guarantee that the old man's safety."

David swallowed hard and glanced over at L who nodded, "I have the call traced, you can end the call whenever you wish now."

The younger boy nodded back in acknowledgement and took a steadying breath, "Yes sir. I will pass along the message, I won't let you down." With those words, he heard a click on the other end of the phone line, which gave way to a comforting, but nauseating silence, before shutting his own phone and holding it out for L to take. "Ryan said…" he began.

L held up his hand to silence him, "I heard, thank you." The detective paused for a sip of his coffee, and then continued. "Since you have helped me, I will now hold up my end of the deal, I'll have someone bring up some dinner for all of you."

L walked over to the far wall and pressed a button. Moments later a voice answered, "Yes L?"

"I'd like to have dinner sent up for four please," he replied.

"Of course," the voice answered before disconnecting.

Moments later, there was a timid knock on the door. L beckoned them in, and an older lady entered, rolling in a cart with four covered platters of food. She set them on the coffee table, in the small area that was not covered with junk food, then took her leave, taking the rolling cart with her.

L jumped up from his chair and locked the door. "I will unhand cuff you to eat, but if you do anything that would push me to think you can't handle this right, you'll be handcuffed again faster than you can blink. So no funny business." The four boys nodded. L un-cuffed each of them before plopping back down in his chair with a nice piece of chocolate cake.

The four boys watched L for a moment, mentally questioning if he was going to have dinner, or just cake. After coming to the conclusion that he would only be eating cake, they lifted the covers off of their trays. The private chef of the orphanage had prepared medium-rare steaks, french fries, fresh vegetables, and strawberry shortcake for dinner. Each of the young boys quickly dug into their meal, taming the hunger that had been growing in them since early this morning.

L watched as the students devoured their dinner, it was a shame that they had gotten themselves involved in this mess. They all seemed to be more or less decent kids, but they turned to crime, instead of justice. L could not comprehend what could possibly push someone far enough to turn to corruption. They had mentioned the need for money in order to get out of the orphanage, but why turn to working with real felons? Surely if they had asked for help, and explained why they wanted to leave, Watari would have done everything in his power to help them achieve their desires. Why turn to crime when you can turn to justice?

When Dean, David, Adam, and Michael had finished their meal, they felt an awkwardness fall over the room. L did not notice this feeling, for he was accustomed to thoughtful silence. However, the four younger boys began to feel uneasy with the stillness of the room. David cleared his throat, racking his brain for something to say, anything to start a conversation, but what? L had interrogated them all day, surely he didn't want to have to converse with them… but the silence was so eerie.

As if reading their minds, L broke the silence. "I will now explain what is going to happen next. I am going to release you from the confinement of my room, you will be free to return to your rooms. However, each of you will continue to be under constant surveillance, 24-7. There will be two guards inside your rooms at all times, who will switch shifts every couple of hours or so. They will accompany you everywhere you go, and if any of you start to cause an uprising of any sort, you will immediately be brought back here for internment. None of you are to contact Ryan, or anyone else outside of this orphanage, under any circumstances. I will allow you to keep your phones, in case Ryan contacts you, in which event you are to immediately report back to me with what he has said. Remember, if you don't follow these rules, the guards _will_ inform me, and you will be brought back to confinement here. After Watari is returned and we have correctly dealt with Ryan, Watari will decide what your punishments will be, after all, you were all accomplices in the crime of kidnapping Watari, and stealing your classmates' belongings. Are there any questions?"

There was a collage of heads shaking 'no.' L continued, "Very well then." He jumped up out of his chair and pressed the black button on the wall again. Seconds later, the voice had returned. "Will you please send up the guards I selected?" he asked the voice.

"Certainly L," it said, and then the voice was gone.

Within a minute, eight guards stood outside L's door. He unlocked it and welcomed them in. The dark-haired detective then turned to the four boys who were staring at the strong, buff, and intimidating guards. "You are all free to return to your rooms. Please remember the rules we agreed to." L returned to his chair with his coffee as he watched each student become flanked by two tall guards, and exit the room.

When everyone had left, and a heavy silence fell upon the room, L sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment, pushing back the headache that had been growing all day. The detective pushed up on his upper lip with his thumb, devising a strategy. There were many preparations that needed to be taken care of, and not much time to do them in. However, L would deal with those tomorrow, after a few hours of sleep. One thing was for sure, he had a plan… it could be dangerous, but it was a plan. The only thing that mattered was Watari's safety… if L got caught in the crossfire, then so be it.

**Author's Note : hello everyone! i'd like to apologize for my lack of posting new material lately... my internet has been acting up big time, which is a big pain in the ass... so ya, i finally had the oportunity to post this. i hope you enjoyed chapter 12. ^_^ i also want to thank everyone for leaving reviews!! they are much appriciated. =) so i encourage everyone to write one, pweeasse? anyway! we'er getting closer to the climax, yay!!! c u soon. xo**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer : I don't own Death Note**

The next few days flew by. L was constantly held up in his room, working out the final kinks in his plan for Tuesday. He was fortunate, the four trouble-making boys did not act up, so it proved to be one less thing to worry about. However, the list of things he _did_ have to worry about was endless, and growing.

L was obviously on edge. Not many people could conclude this personally, fore not many actually saw him throughout the course of the weekend; but they could pretty much assume that the prodigy was probably close to pulling his own hair out. The students did not act up either, the talk that L had given them had left them with no thoughts of rebellion… who knew what the detective would do to them if they tried.

Despite L's near-isolation, he did receive a few regular visitors; his brothers. Mello, Matt, and Near visited his room twice a day, once after their classes were over, and again right before they headed off to bed. All three knew L was fighting a mental battle, trying to decide what the best course of action was… the war was evident on his face. However, Mello was the first to pick up on the severity of his restlessness.

Sunday night, two days before the planned meeting with Ryan, after Matt and Near had left for bed, Mello lingered and stared at L. The blonde had been trying all day to figure out what exactly was going on in his mind, to no avail. Finally, he had gotten up the courage to ask. "L, what's going on? Please tell me… I want to help. You shouldn't have to carry this burden on your own."

L turned from the laptop he had been glaring at and sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment, collecting his thoughts, before answering. "Mello, I can't let you help, not this time. This could turn out to be very dangerous, and I _will not _put you, nor any other student at this orphanage in that kind of danger. It's my responsibility, if I had figured it out sooner, I could have kept Watari from being taken; but I was too late, and now I must fix my mistake."

Mello had moved closer to his brother, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "But L, it's not your fault! You can't blame just yourself for this! Regardless, let me help, I can be of _some_ use, I'm sure." Mello had moved so he was facing L, staring him straight in the eyes, trying to convey the urgency of his message, to allow him to help with the case. When L shook his head, Mello started in again. "L, I'm second under you… that _has _to stand for something. I can help, just tell me what's going on. _Please_?" he pleaded.

L sighed, and motioned for Mello to take the chair opposite of him. "I will explain what is going on, but keep in mind this must remain confidential. Don't tell Near or Matt, I don't want them to worry, or be troubled by the burden. However, keep in mind that you will _not_ be involved in the meeting, I'm only telling you so that you may offer your opinion or ideas as to the correct course of action, understood?"

When Mello nodded in agreement, L continued. "Okay, so the scheduled trade-meeting with Ryan is Tuesday, two days from now. However, I do not want to go in there blind. I'm going tomorrow to check out the location I received via the phone tap. That will allow me to examine the area and see how much security there is, where the dead ends are, the availability of arms, etc. Then, on Tuesday, I'll meet with Ryan and do everything in my power to get Watari back, safely. There's a sixty-seven percent chance that Ryan will go back on his word, and even after receiving the money, keep Watari hidden or hurt him… I need to be prepared for everything, and I will be."

Mello sat silent, listening to L's plan; having his own questions, but not the courage to voice them. "An…and that's the whole plan?" the blonde apprentice asked.

"Well, obviously, I'm still working on the final details, on the preparations. I would very much prefer that I make it out alive as well, so I must be thorough. But yes, that's the basic plan," he paused for a moment, taking in Mello's expression of horror. "Mello, don't worry, I will get Watari back, and I'm pretty sure I'll come back as well; there's only a… well, a relatively low chance that I'll fail." L did not want to tell Mello that that percentage was actually forty-six. It was relatively high, but the odds _were_ in his favor, so he would risk them, for Watari.

Mello nodded and left the room, his head still swarming with questions, concerns, and wild trepidation. He worked his way down the hall, thinking of what he could do to help L, surely there must be _something_ he could do. Finally the idea hit him. Mello stopped first at Near's room, and then at Matt's; collecting them both as he made his way quickly and silently to his own room.

As soon as Matt, Near, and himself were in his room, he shut and locked the door. The other two boys stared at him with disbelief, curious as to why he dragged them from their beds after they had just been together in L's room. Mello moved to the center of the room, away from the door and any possible prying ears. "Guys, we have got to help L, he's in trouble… even if he won't admit it. I have a plan." The three boys huddled together as Mello whispered his idea to them. The other two boys nodded in agreement; they would help their elder brother, he needed them. Several questions were brought up, more defined details and complications, but it was decided that those would be worked out tomorrow. There was still a little bit of time left to finalize everything.

After it was agreed that the three boys would meet tomorrow morning in Mello's room again, Matt and Near dispersed back to their rooms, careful to take different routes as not to draw suspicion from their classmates. If they knew what Mello, Matt, and Near were planning, and if it got back to L, things would surely not go well.

**A/N : so.. mello is causing trouble, again. dun dun dun dun! i'd like to apologize for taking so long to update.. i meant to sit down and write last week, but i couldn't find the inspiration. however, i'm hoping to have this story finished by time i start school back up, so updates should be more regular.. i hope. anyway! please leave reviews, without them, well to be honest i get discouraged and think that no one actually reads what i write, so it doesn't provoke me to write new chapters/stories. so please leave reviews, they mean the world to me. until next time... -rhea. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer : I don't own Death Note.**

The next morning, after breakfast was finished, Mello, Matt, and Near recollected themselves in Mello's room. They only had about an hour until classes started, so they had to work out as much of their plan as they could. There was, of course, time after classes; but that time would be needed for other things, preparations.

When everyone was established in Mello's room, he began the meeting. "Okay, so we obviously have to help L, he doesn't know what he's getting himself into. We can't let him go in alone, we have got to have his back. This Ryan guy could have guns, lots of guns. Or maybe a bunch of security guards. There are too many unknowns, and too many possibilities that something could go wrong, against our favor."

There was a collection of head nods throughout the group, Matt took the opportunity to interject. "So how are we gonna go about doing this?"

A mischievous smile played across Mello's lips, "We follow him tomorrow and help him take out the bad guys."

"Wait a minute," Near interrupted, "we need to think this through. Won't L know if we are following him? This needs to be very well planned out."

Mello scowled at the white-haired boy; he didn't particularly like Near trying to show him up at his own idea. "Shut up Near, L won't know that we're following him… we'll be sneaky."

Matt frowned and sighed, glancing at Mello. "Man, Near's right. We have to be careful, we're more or less going in blind here."

Mello's eye twitched, "Matt, shut up! I'll figure it out. Besides, we have to follow him, because we don't know where to go otherwise. We'll follow him carefully, making sure not to give away our whereabouts, and after we get inside, we'll spread out, making sure we got L covered." Mello paused, gauging how his plan was being received so far. Both boys looked thoughtful, so he continued. "We'll make sure we have sufficient weapons on us, enough to defend ourselves, and L, if things turn violent or get out of hand."

Near looked up and gasped, "Weapons? Like guns and stuff? Mello! We can't use guns, we can't even cut cake with a dull knife! L nor Watari would want us playing with even more dangerous weaponry!"

Mello rolled his eyes and scowled, "Well! How else are we going to fight them off? Are you going to throw rubber ducks at their heads?!" he nearly shouted.

Matt acted quickly, he pulled Mello back, who had been slowly rising and inching forward towards Near. Matt held Mello back until he had stopped convulsing in fury, and released him. "Mello, stay calm. We have to work _together_ on this, we need all three of us, if we want to help L save Watari. Don't lose your head, okay? Near, we have to use weapons… otherwise, we would be completely defenseless against Ryan, and whoever else might be there. There is a good chance that the group isn't as intelligent as L or us, but who knows? We need to be able to defend ourselves." He paused a moment, and then continued, "Okay, Mello, you have your gun, I have mine. Near, do you have any kind of weapon?" Near gave him an incredulous look, as if _he_ had any kind of weapon, he was the _good_ child. Matt continued, "Right, can you handle a gun if we gave it to you?"

Near gasped in shock, "I just turned five years old! I don't play with guns, how should I know if I can handle one!?" He paused for a moment, contemplating something. "I can make a weapon though, many of one kind of weapon, and I could use those, would that be okay?" he asked.

Mello scoffed. "What kind of weapon can _you_ make?" he sneered.

"A bomb."

Mello rolled his eyes, but Matt narrowed his, considering. "You are sure you can make them, and they will work, without fail?" he asked.

Near nodded, "It's a project I've been working on for awhile, it's nearly complete. I can have… oh… probably about fifty made by tomorrow."

Once again, Mello scoffed, not believing his companion. However, Matt once again worked his magic as peace-maker. "That would be great, thanks Near. Now, Mello, where do we secure more ammunition for our guns?"

"Oh! Doesn't Watari have a sniper-rifle? He should have ammunition, right? We could take it from his office. I don't think he'd mind, under the circumstances," Mello chimed.

Matt nodded in agreement. "I don't think he'll mind. Okay, so we'll follow L cautiously, and once we're in, we'll fan out, making sure we keep L's back covered. We shouldn't fire anything unless we, L, or Watari are in immediate danger; we don't want to alert anyone that we are there if we can avoid it. We're only there for backup, to cover L incase Ryan and his crew turn on their word or start getting violent."

Mello and Near nodded, agreeing to Matt's logic, but Mello disagreed on one portion of the plan. "Matt, if we had the opportunity to free Watari, or do something else, shouldn't we seize the opportunity? If L was busy and couldn't get away, then shouldn't at least one of us run ahead and try to secure Watari?"

Near was the one who answered, "But if we left L to go get Watari, wouldn't it be kind of defeating the purpose? _At least _one person would have to stay behind and help him, especially if he were so overwhelmed that he couldn't leave himself. I think we should leave that decision for if it actually happens; there are way too many 'what-ifs' in this mission, we can't dwell on each and every one individually."

The two older boys agreed. Matt glanced at the clock on the wall; there was only about ten minutes until their classes began. The meeting dispersed, each of the boys heading to their own classes. After their classes were over, they'd each be making their own individual preparations for the next day. Near would be assembling his bombs, Matt and Mello would be 'borrowing' ammunition from Watari's office, without being spotted by suspicious eyes of their classmates. They would be gathering their essentials for the mission; making sure everything was in order for tomorrow, everything _must_ go flawlessly.

---

While the three younger boys were making plans for the next day, L was sneaking into a shabby, run down warehouse. It hadn't taken him long to creep to the entrance, because no one was outside. Now the tricky part was getting in and out without getting caught. L reviewed his odds, there was now a seventy percent chance of being discovered; he didn't want to know what would happen if he got caught. Therefore he would try his best not to be. Nobody would be expecting him, since the meeting day was actually tomorrow, but still; L had to be careful.

L sighed, calming himself for what he was about to do. He gently and silently pushed open the beat-up door and slinked inside slowly. He did a quick once-over of the place. It was a fairly big building, as most warehouses are, with hundreds of boxes filled with who knows what scattered and stacked thoughtlessly on the floor. Dust covered everything, from the ceiling to the uneven floor boards. L approximated that the room hadn't been used for many years, outside of storage, that is.

There didn't seem to be anyone around, fore the spacious room was eerily silent. L crouched down, and continued to inch his way forward, using his hands as guides, as he began to explore the inner workings of the hideout. He crept around a stack of boxes, and hid behind them. There was still no one insight, so he seized the opportunity to further examine his surroundings.

To the north, there was a large emergency exit, tightly sealing out the rest of the world. To the east, there was a narrow hallway, encasing many smaller rooms. He decided to explore the hallway first. L crept his way east, careful to always remain hidden behind at least one large storage box. When he finally made it to the hallway, he hid behind the wall; peeking out to see if anyone was coming toward him.

L began to sneak down the hall, stopping at each room to either peek in the window of the door, or push it open to discover it's hidden contents. Most of the rooms were empty of anything of importance; there was dust, and more boxes, and the occasional miscellaneous object scattered across the floor; but nothing significant. L continued his search though. He was starting to breathe easier, he hadn't found anything too terrifying yet, so his odds were beginning to improve, but the search wasn't over yet.

On the left-hand side of the hall, L leaned against the door, checking that no one was inside before slipping in. Inside, there were many guns, which, unlike everything else in the building, were leaned up against the walls carefully, free of dust and clutter. The weapons lined each wall of the room, several layers thick. L's eyes widened… that was a lot of weaponry… he continued on down the hallway, stopping at each door. Several doors later, another room was filled with more weapons; though this time, knives accompanied the guns. He slipped out of the room, and crept to the next door.

There were voices coming from inside this room. L sat for a moment, listening, trying to decipher if he recognized any of the voices; he didn't. Not wanting a confrontation, he continued on, making a mental note to check back later and see what was in the room.

Again, most of the rooms were empty, but he came across several more with weapons and ammunition in them. Finally, at the end of the corridor, a new hall opened up, leading into a medium sized open room with a single door in the back right-hand corner. There were tables and chairs set up; where people were playing poker, arm wrestling, and glaring at each other. L did a double take; he wasn't expecting so many people. There were easily fifty men sitting before him, but he was willing to bet there were at least seventy or even eighty. How, and why, in the world did Ryan have so many thugs working for him?

L backed up, fearing a confrontation with all of the men at once. As quickly as he could, he snuck back down the hall to the main room, completely forgetting about the one room he hadn't checked. He wanted nothing more than to get out of there, and quickly. He wasn't prepared for a fight today, especially not one against fifty; those odds were definitely not in his favor!

L slipped out the exit that he entered from, and started heading back to the orphanage, to home. He had made it out alive, this time.

**A/N : phew! so i finished another chapter; it's a bit longer to make up for chapter 13 being kinda short. i'll try to post at least 1 chapter a week until it's finished, maybe 2, if i'm feeling ambitious. ^_^ i'd like to encourage everyone to leave reviews! they mean the world to me, and provoke me to keep writing; it get's me inspired! much luv, until next time -Rhea.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer : I don't own Death Note**

The next morning, the students of Whammy's Orphanage slept soundly, except for four. L was shuffling around, making sure everything was in order for today. He had taken the required ransom money out of Watari's safe, and borrowed a handgun from his office. Also, he indulged himself in a delicious breakfast of cookies, cake, and icecream, so that he would have plenty of energy to get through the day's activities.

Mello, Matt, and Near were also up early. The three boys made sure they had their carrying bags ready, which contained their weapon ammunition, some granola bars, and three bottles of water. Mello appeared to be the most calm, trying to portray his leadership. Matt kept himself busy in order to keep his mind off what they were going to be doing in a few hours. Near, though he would never admit it to Mello, was extremely nervous; the plan wasn't entirely planned out, and they didn't know exactly what was going to happen. They would be winging-it, which Near _hated_ to do.

The morning hours passed as the four boys worked, and the rest of the student body slept. When noon finally rolled around, L left his room to take his leave. First however, he stopped at Near's room to say good bye and to be careful. When he opened the door, no one was in there. This confused L for a moment, but figured he must be in one of his friends' rooms. He headed to Matt's room next, only to discover he was missing as well. Lastly, he went to Mello's room.

When L knocked on the door, it sent the room into a frenzy. Near and Matt rushed around to silently hide their equiptment for later, while Mello headed for the door to let him in. Each party was surprised to see the other, but they quickly regained their composer.

L was the first to speak, "Why is everyone in your room Mello? I went to say bye to the other two, but they weren't in their rooms, I was worried."

"We are working on a school project together, since we get to work in groups this time. We figured we would get a definite A if the three smartest kids here, after you, of course, worked together," Mello concluded with a broad smile. Matt and Near nodded aimlessly in the background, agreeing to their friend's alibi story.

L thought for a moment, considering their story. After several moments, he accepted their story and shrugged. "Okay, well I just wanted to say goodbye for the day, and to tell you three to behave; not to kill each other or something."

The three younger boys scoffed at L's joke and laughed, assuring him they would behave. Near chimed in first, "L…" he paused, looking down at the floor, "be careful, please?"

L looked completely shocked at what his little brother had said, it stunned him for a minute before he could actually react. He bent down and gave Near a big hug, and whispered, "Don't worry buddy, I'll come back fine." L hoped he could keep that promise, but he'd worry about that later. He gave the other two boys a pat on the shoulder before making his final goodbyes for the day, leaving the room, and making his way toward the exit.

Once L had exited Mello's room, the three boys once again returned to a rushed frenzied state. They quickly assembled their bags and made sure they had everything they needed. When they were done with that they gave a silent nod to each other and opened the door. Mello, Matt, and Near silently followed L, making sure to scale the wall if need be to avoid being seen. Within five minutes they were out of the building and on their journey to make the trade.

The three boys did quite well trailing their big brother, staying out of sight even on a near-barren road. Finally, after about an hour of walking, they came across a giant, falling-apart warehouse. Near's mouth gaped open, he had never seen a building before… since no one was supposed to leave the orphanage. Mello and Matt didn't seem nearly as surprised; they had snuck out several times before to know there was nothing unusual about this building, except for the apparent fact that Watari was being hidden there.

L was heading inside, glancing around behind him to make sure the coast was clear; his silent stalkers had hidden behind a near-by bush, so they weren't spotted. The three younger boys sneaked in after him, waiting a few moments to make sure he wouldn't notice.

Once inside, Mello, Matt, and Near weren't quite sure what to do. L had already vanished from the large storage area they were standing in, and weren't sure where he had gone off to. How could they protect him if they didn't know where he was at? They moved a little further into the center of the room, staying crouched behind some boxes.

"Okay, so what now?" Matt asked.

Mello's eye twitched. He didn't like the fact that things weren't going according to plan, but of course sometimes it wouldn't. This would help prepare him for solving other real cases once he got out of Whammy's. "I guess we look around and see if we can find Watari or L, if not, then we re-strategize. Matt and Near nodded. They sat there debating for a minute if they should really go down the creepy hall way; and if they did, should they check out the individual rooms, or just see where the hall led. After a few moments of angry, and quickly crescendoing whispers, they were interrupted.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat. "What do we have here?"

All three of the boys immediately looked up to find five large and stocky men, all carrying a gun.

"Shit," Mello whispered under his breath. The five men grabbed the boys by their arms and pulled them upward and started dragging them down the creepy hallway. "Get you're fucking hands off of me now!" Mello yelled.

"Mello, shut up," Near said bluntly. "This is all your fault anyway."

Mello clenched his teeth, "Is not! It is obviously all your fault!" Matt sighed, he just wished that he could be back at the orphanage, that none of this would have happened.

"Both of you shut up before I blow your heads off and _make _you shut up!" one of the men threatened. This shut up both of them. The three young orphans continued to be dragged down the hall until they came upon the large room at the end of it. The guards pushed them down on the floor, the one who yelled at Mello and Near speaking up first. "Ryan, sir, we found these trespassers while we were making our sweep of the place. What do you want us to do with them?"

Ryan, who was seated in a chair facing them glanced to the person sitting in front of him and gave him a questioning look. The boy in the chair turned his head to see what was going on; him, and the three younger boys gasped.

"So, I see you know each other," Ryan began speaking to the black haired kid in front of him. "Didn't I tell you not to bring other people to our little meeting? That if you did, things could turn out quite unpleasantly, for you _and _the old man?"

"I didn't tell them to come, they came on their own free will. I knew nothing of their plan to follow me here," L spoke, the usual calm of his voice quivering just the slightest. His three younger boys had just put themselves at a very high risk by coming here, yet alone getting caught. How was he going to save them, Watari, and himself? The odds were not in his favor, but he would have to wing it, think of something, in order to save Watari and the boys; even if he got caught in the crossfire.

"He's right! He didn't know we were going to follow him here," Mello chimed in.

One of the guards kicked him, "Shut up, punk."

Mello was back to his feet in a moment, and with a quick, fluid motion, pulled out his gun and held it to the man's chest. "You wanna die, asshole?" This immediately triggered a response. Each of Ryan's goons that was holding a gun, which was most of them, turned and aimed their weapons at the blonde boy and his two companions.

L jumped up, unsure of how he could help, but feeling as if he couldn't just sit there. "Mello, put down your gun; don't cause any extra trouble," he begged with panic slowly inching it's way into his voice. Mello obeyed his idol's command, but the other guns remained aimed at him. L turned back to Ryan, "They didn't do anything, let them go free. You have your money, now give us back Watari."

"You see, I can't do that, because now they know too much information. Viper, open fire," Ryan commanded his right hand man with an evil smile.

L gasped, completely unsure of what to do now, how could he help them? His mind was racing. Mello, Matt, and Near didn't try to stop them. The three boys huddled together, Near in the middle protected by the two older boys. They each slammed their eyes shut, curling into each other, preparing for the worst. L did the same, closing his eyes and whispering a silent prayer to whomever would listen. _Please, someone, somehow, save my brothers._ A silent tear dripped down his cheek.

"Okay men, you heard the boss, get ready, aim. Fire!" he yelled.

_KABOOM. _

**A/N : hello everyone! it's been awhile. my internet has been out for a little bit, so it's given me the opportunity to write without distractions. this story is now completely written, there are two more chapters left; however, i'm going to make you wait a little bit for them, since i'm not sure when my internet will stop PMSing... (i blame kira for my internet problems, and god only know's he's always PMSing.) anyway! i hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though i left you with a cliff hanger. =O please please please review!!!!! until next time, Rhea. xo**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer : I don't own Death Note**

Mello's eyes fluttered open, he should be dead; Ryan had ordered his men to open fire at them. Yet, he was still alive, he thought. But he had heard an explosion, hadn't he? He glanced down, he saw red locks hovering over white tufts of hair in a protective manner. Slowly, the trembling Matt lifted his head, he wasn't dead either? Lastly, Near glanced up, smiling. Finally, something clicked in Mello's mind. The explosion.

Mello glanced down at Near, his lips crinkling upward into a smile. "I thought we might need a distraction, I planted one," the five year old stated, as if it was no big deal that his cleverness had just saved their lives.

"You… the bombs actually work?" the blonde asked unable to make sense of what had happened. Near simply smiled, take _that_ Mello; now who can use weapons correctly? "Erm… uh… thanks." Near nodded a 'your welcome' before glancing up to analyze what had happened in the few seconds the three of them had been conversing.

The explosion had diverted the men from their original intention of shooting the three orphans. Immediately after an order from Ryan, they took off back down the hallway to see what was happening, who was invading, and to stop them, at all costs. Ryan was scowling at the hallway, angry that yet another person was disrupting his plans today. L's eyes were open, searching for the same information that Near was, what was going on. He locked eyes with his youngest brother, and he knew what had transpired. That boy was a prodigy in the making, he had quite possibly saved the entire mission. L smiled before turning back to Ryan.

"Where is Watari? You have your money, give him back. Unless, of course, you want whoever is breaking in here to know that you are also holding someone hostage, as well as threatening little children's lives. Where is he?" the dark haired detective demanded.

Ryan scowled, this kid was starting to _really_ piss him off. However, he did have his money, so the old man held no other purpose to him. But this kid really pissed him off, part of him wanted to keep the old man hostage just to spite this spiky haired freak. Ryan ended up siding with that part of his mind. He swiftly pulled out his gun and aimed it at the boy before him.

Mello, Matt, and Near gasped out, "No!" but L was already a step ahead of them. He ducked and kicked Ryan in the face, before punching him square in the jaw. While he was recovering from this, L was running to where his younger brothers were, he _would _protect them.

Ryan regained the air about him, picking his gun back up. Suddenly, a little yellow duck came flying from behind L, hitting Ryan on the head, then falling behind him, unknowingly into his sweatshirt hood. "What the-? Bwahahaha! You think you can defeat me by throwing rubber ducks at me!? And I thought you guys were supposed to be smart!" Ryan doubled over, laughing.

Near tugged on the hem of L's shirt, "L, we have about ninety seconds until that duck explodes." L nodded and scooped up the white-haired boy in his arms since he couldn't run as fast and began to head back down the hall. Mello and Matt picked up on what was going on, they took off after them. Ryan, too caught up in his own self-praise and laughter did not notice they were gone until about thirty seconds later.

L ran down the halls, he knew where he was going, and it wasn't the exit. He'd get there in a minute, first, he had to get Watari. L ran down the hall until coming to the one door that he had not checked the day before, Watari was inside, he just _knew _it. He kicked open the door, revealing a tied and gagged Watari. L handed Near to Mello, who shoved a bag towards Matt. "Mello, Matt, you two get yourselves and Near out of here, as fast as you can. Run, don't look back, no matter what. Understood?" The tone that L used held a direct order, the younger boys dared not argue. Mello, carrying Near, and Matt, carrying the mysterious bag, continued their dash toward the exit.

Ryan, having finally realized that the young children had already left the room, started running down the hall, he had to catch them. If they got out alive and told the cops, things would end badly for him; once the fuzz were told his name, they'd know that he was the person leading the gang in the area. They'd know that he was responsible for all the deaths and robberies in the area lately. He _had_ to catch those stupid kids.

L quickly ungagged Watatri and cut the ropes with a knife laying on a nearby shelf. They didn't waste time with talking, that could take place later. He only had about forty-five seconds left to get out of the place before the rubber-duck bomb exploded; and who knew if Near had hidden any more other places in the warehouse. He had to get out of there.

Now, even though Watari was an older man, that did not mean he was incapable of running in order to save his, and L's life. He did, after all, train himself for dangerous situations, since he often helped L with his dangerous cases. Watari and L ran back toward the exit. There were a bunch of Ryan's men standing around the main entrance that L had entered, examining the earlier explosion's damage. L also noticed that there were about fifty little yellow rubber ducks scattered across the floor; Near must have dumped them out while they made their escape. L and Watari pushed themselves harder, making their way towards the emergency exit. Ten seconds left.

They dove outside through the already open door. Mello, Matt, and Near were crouched behind a large rock about a tenth of a mile away. L and Watari ran again, diving behind the rock just as a large blast of heat rose off the building with a loud KABOOM. This triggered many other explosions, from the fifty or so duck-bombs scattered on the floor in the main storage room.

Watari and L crouched protectively over the younger three, shielding them from any pieces of cardboard, wood, or other miscellaneous flying objects. The five boys sat and waited for the explosions to die down. When it did, Watari flipped out his cell phone, dialing the police station to alert them of their whereabouts and what had just happened.

They all waited until the cops showed up, recounting, in person, what had all transpired. When the officers had given them permission to leave Watari, L, Mello, Matt, and Near gathered together a little ways away from the scene. They stood facing the demolished warehouse, watching cops lead several surviving men in handcuffs out of the building and into the cop cars. Watari stood with his left hand on L's shoulder, his right on Mello's shoulder, who was slightly in front of him. Mello had his arm draped over Near's shoulder, as did Matt, who stood on the white-haired boy's other side, with L's other hand on his shoulder. They stood staring at the place that had started all of the hectic chaos of the last several days. It occurred to each of them at almost the same moment how great of a family picture this would be; of Watari and the orphans he cared for so dearly, still together, smiling, after all of the chaos that they experienced on a daily basis. The thought brought a smile to each of their faces as the realized that this truly was their family, Watari, L, Mello, Matt, and Near; and what a family they made?

Watari broke the thoughtful and comforting silence, "Come on, let's go home." Near, Matt, and Mello glanced back towards Watari with warm smiles, while L smiled down at them. Yes, home. They, their family, all together again, was going home.

**A/N : i hope you enjoyed this chapter. =) there's only one chapter left of this story, which should be posted soon. i encourage everyone to review! they encourage me to keep writing, so please leave me a comment! until next time, Rhea. xoxo**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer : I don't own Death Note**

When Watari and his orphans returned to the orphanage, they immediately headed down to his office. He made Mello, Matt, and L return the guns they borrowed. L filled him in on what had happened with Dean, David, Michael, and Adam; and Watari promised they would be properly punished.

Mello, still holding the bag he seemed to have mysteriously pick up asked, "Watari, what should I do with this?" He handed the bag to L, who handed it to Watari. Both of them looked at him with astonishment.

"Mello, where did you get this? This is the money I gave to Ryan in exchange for Watari," L mumbled, confused at how Mello had gotten it.

"I stole it back when he was cackling like a mad cow. I figured if it was ransom money, it was illegally acquired money on his part, so I took it back," Mello shrugged, as if it was something he did everyday. Watari and L shook their heads, unable to believe it, but smiled at the young blonde.

Finally, Watari gave them permission to return to their rooms to rest after the long past couple of days. Before they opened the door to leave, he said softly, "Thank you, all of you, for bringing me back safely and keeping order here in my absence. It shows that each of you have great strength, and can handle great responsibility." With that, the boys left Watari's office with a smile.

They all headed down to L's room next since none of the younger boys felt tired enough to sleep, especially since it was only about four in the afternoon. When they got to L's room, they were received by a surprise. Dean, David, Adam, and Michael were seated on his couch, with eight guards standing against the different walls of the room.

When they walked in, all four boys jumped up off the couch. David was the one to speak first. "Umm… L, we wanted to apologize, for what we did. Not only about stealing our classmates' stuff, but with the whole kidnapping thing, we're sorry… I know it's unforgivable, but still, we'd like to make it up to you," he whimpered.

"This speech is probably best saved for Watari, since he will be handling your punishment, not me," L declared, not angrily, but matter-of-factly.

Dean spoke up next, "We know, but still. Please allow us to try to make things right with you."

L raised his eyebrows, curious as to what they had in mind, but nodded an okay. Adam stepped forward, pulling out several items wrapped in newspaper. First he held out a small rectangle towards Matt, "Your DS," he stated, "we really are sorry." Matt lunged forward, caressing his gaming system in his arms. Oh! How he had missed the warm fuzzy feeling he got when he held a video game. Tonight, he'd be trying for level eighty-five! Next Adam held out a wrapped item to Near, "Your robot… we really are sorry Near, we shouldn't have taken your birthday gift; well, we shouldn't have taken anything, but still, we're sorry." Near's eyes lit up, sparkling with that new-toy lust. He reached forward and snatched his robot from Adam's hands. Near hugged it to his body, before plopping down on the couch to play with his birthday present.

David cleared his throat, "Umm… Mello, about your chocolate, we're umm… _really_ sorry that we stole it… and ate it," David said through trembling lips. "But, well, since we didn't know where to order any from, and had no money to do so, we thought Watari could order you some more. So, we don't have anything to give you, except an apology. Please don't kill us!" he cried. Mello's eye twitched at being reminded of his stolen and eaten chocolate, but said nothing. They were right, Watari always ordered some for him, so he wouldn't be out of it for long… but that didn't mean he had to be happy about it. He glared at the four boys before turning and taking a seat in one of L's comfortable chairs.

Michael finally spoke, "Um… L, we didn't really know what to get you, so we made something for you. It took us a couple tries, but we finally got it." He turned around and lifted a covered plate from the coffee table and took off the lid. "We baked you a chocolate cake."

"You… baked me a cake?" L was touched. The rage that he had had for these boys suddenly vanished. Anyone who would bake a cake, a chocolate cake at that, for someone couldn't be all bad. "Thank you, that mean's a lot. In return, I'd like to give each of you some advice, whether you choose to take it or not. When Watari talks to you about your punishment, mention to him why you got involved with all of this in the first place, and why you want to leave the orphanage. I think he would do everything in his power to try to help you guys out, the right way, not the illegal way."

David, Dean, Adam, and Michael nodded, thanking L for his wise words and forgiveness, and left the room to make their way to Watari's office to apologize to him. They had learned their lesson, and wanted Watari to know that.

When they and their guards left, L walked to his desk and opened the top drawer, taking something out of it. "Mello, would you come here a moment?"

Mello did as he wished, "Yeah? Did you want something L?"

"I wanted to give you something, since you did not receive something back from those four, since they ate your chocolate. I didn't want you to think that you weren't important to this case, mission, or your family," L said quietly.

"You don't have to give me anything L, really, Watari will order me more chocolate, it's fine.

"Still, I'd like you to have something for your help with the case." L extended his hand to Mello and uncurled his fingers, exposing a little red rosary. "This was one of the only things that I had in my possession when I was brought to the orphanage by Watari when I was younger. I don't know where I got it, or why I had it, since I have no idea where I grew up or who my parents were. But I kept it because it was a part of who I was, whether I understood that part of me or not, and now, it belongs to you." L slipped the rosary over Mello's blonde hair.

Mello was speechless. L, his idol, his hero, was giving me a part of his life. He was giving him the one material object that he that held him to his life before coming to Whammy's Orphanage. "L… L… I don't know what to say…" A tear was making it's way down the blonde's cheek. "You don't know how much of an honor this is… how much this means to me… I… I…" Mello choked out. Finally, he gave up on words, they were failing him. He hugged his older brother, conveying everything he was trying to say in one action.

L hugged his little blonde brother, then rustled his hair. "Don't worry about it Mello, you deserve it after your help with the case. But can I ask you one more favor?"

"Anything!" Mello answered, promising to carry out anything that his hero requested of him.

"Regardless of who succeeds me when I'm gone," L paused, glancing over at Near and Matt on the couch, "will you promise me that you will look after your brothers? They need you, just like you need them, you guys are a _team_."

Mello's mouth dropped open. He had not been expecting anything like _this_; to be promising to watch over Matt and Near, regardless of who ended up succeeding L. However, L was asking, and he would do anything for L. "Yeah," Mello paused, glancing over at the boys on the couch, "I can do that for you." L smiled at him before heading over to his chair to eat his newly acquired cake.

Mello glanced down at the rosary that L had just given him. It gave him strength and reassurance. He smiled to himself before making his way back over to the couch to sit between Matt and Near. "So, Near… I guess you really did just have to throw rubber ducks at peoples' heads in order to have a weapon. I would have expected something a little more… advanced."

Near glared at the blonde sitting beside him, "Well, at least I actually used my weapon, Mr. I-can-use-any-weapon-around-but-didn't. Besides, I do believe the ducky-bombs were perfect in every way. They were efficient, and cute! Just like me! And who would ever think a cute, harmless ducky could blow their head off? My invention was ingenious, so there! Take that!" Near exclaimed, sticking out his tongue.

Mello scoffed, "Oh shut up! I was the real brains behind the whole operation, if not for me…"

Mello and Near continued their arguing. Matt was once again absorbed into the world of video games, and L was enjoying the pure bliss of chocolate cake. L smiled to himself, everything was finally back to normal.

**A/N : my very first fanfiction is now, offically, finished! *tear* it's kind of sad... i'm going to miss this story. but, everything must come to an end eventually. and to think that this story is all because my english teacher gave us a free write.... who would have guessed it would turn into a 75 page story, double spaced!?!? anyway, if you liked this story, i hope you'll check out some of my other work; i already have several other DN stories, and intend to work on more, as well as starting some other-themed stories. i'm going to ask one last favor, like L did, will you please please please review this story? I'll love you forever if you do! reviews really do mean the world to me, so please drop me a comment. i'd like to say thank you to everyone who stuck by me and returned to read the new chapters, and to everyone who left reviews, thank you. you guys rock! see you around my other stories (hopefully!) , Rhea. xoxo**


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